Share GadgetGuy's profile
 
Facebook Twitter
 
 
GadgetGuy
 
 
 
GadgetGuy's stats
 
  • Review count
    1
  • Helpfulness votes
    369
  • First review
    September 25, 2016
  • Last review
    September 25, 2016
  • Featured reviews
    0
  • Average rating
    4
 
Reviews comments
  • Review comment count
    0
  • Helpfulness votes
    0
  • First review comment
    None
  • Last review comment
    None
  • Featured review comments
    0
 
Questions
  • Question count
    0
  • Helpfulness votes
    0
  • First question
    None
  • Last question
    None
  • Featured questions
    0
 
Answers
  • Answer count
    0
  • Helpfulness votes
    0
  • First answer
    None
  • Last answer
    None
  • Featured answers
    0
  • Best answers
    0
 
 
GadgetGuy's Reviews
 
Only at Best Buy Increase productivity with this powerful Insignia tablet. It has an 11.6-inch touch screen that provides high-definition viewing, and the 32GB of built-in storage help you manage documents, music files and applications. Snap photos and chat with others via video-conference applications with the rear-facing and front-facing cameras of this Insignia tablet.
 
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
A Decent Windows Tablet For Just $199
on September 25, 2016
Posted by: GadgetGuy
The things that hooked me on this tablet were the full HD screen and the keyboard. Let me explain both:
When was the last time you saw a full HD (1920x1080 resolution) tablet for under $200? Let me save you the trouble – NOWHERE. Best Buy’s Insignia brand is the only product where you can get a crisp, sharp, bright HD in a Windows tablet for under $200. Samsung doesn’t have one. Apple certainly doesn’t have one.
The other thing that snagged me was the keyboard. If you’ve ever tried Bluetooth keyboards or folio keyboards, you’ve probably noticed that there’s something that comes up short in all of them. Maybe the Enter key is the same size as the letter keys so you’re constantly putting line breaks where you don’t want them. Or a Shift key has the same problem, it’s in a strange place with a strange size. With this particular unit, it’s a good, full-sized keyboard. The Enter key is large. The Shift keys are large. There are two Alt keys. And while it has one Ctrl key, you can download a free utility to map the pop-up menu key to act like a right-side Ctrl key.
As of September 2016, this Insignia tablet is new. Last year, Insignia rolled out an 8.9-inch full HD tablet for under $150 (at one point on sale for just $99). I was delighted with that tablet, its build quality and the screen – but it didn’t come with a matching keyboard. I got a third-party keyboard from Belkin to use with it. And its unusually long dimensions made it hard to find a tablet folio or sleeve. This new unit with its keyboard cover provides its own protection.
The back of the body is patterned so you won’t see fingerprint smudges – a smart design decision. The keyboard has a blue lamp to indicate power on, and a second lamp for Caps Lock – rare in tablet keyboards I’ve noticed. And the main tablet part detaches easily from the keyboard using a magnetic “POGO” (that’s what it’s called) connector that lets you pivot the screen to many different viewing angles – better than some other systems out there. If you like the idea of carrying around a 1.5-lb tablet with a gorgeous HD screen, here’s your system!
As nice as this unit is, though, there are some flaws – but remember, this is a $199 device – you don’t get to expect blue-chip features for just two C-notes. First, the internal storagen is skimpy – it only has 32 GB of on-board storage. You can augment the storage with the built-in micro SD slot (nice feature) or by using a USB jump drive with the two – TWO! - USB slots in the keyboard cover. (Side note: the USB slots are underpowered. I was surprised to plug in an external 2 TB USB drive but it would not recognize it – the USB slots just don’t put out enough power. You can use larger non-powered USB drives but not the kind self-powered by the USB jack itself.)
Another review said the keyboard felt cheap but I disagree – I think it feels plenty solid. Where I see cheapness is in the mouse pad. It seems a bit glitchy and if you have fat thumbs you may find your cursor has jumped somewhere unexpectedly. You can, of course, just use the touch screen to navigate – this is a touch-screen unit, after all – if you run into mouse issues. Or you can use a wired or Bluetooth mouse instead.
As I mentioned earlier this is a new unit to the Insignia line. New offerings sometimes have bugs and this one had a few. I got (and still get) a message warning about the sound level being turned up too high – research said this might be an Insignia issue to work out, so if they issue new drivers for the audio that may fix that. Another surprise had to do with the speaker – when I ran Netflix and tried playing a TV show there was no sound initially. I had to go to the Control Panel’s Device Manager and uninstall the audio device drivers, then reinstall them and update them. That took care of the issue. I, though, am knowledgeable about computers so I was able to resolve this matter myself – most users will either shlep the unit to Geek Squad or just return it (if they don’t have a tech-savvy friend, of course).
Be sure to note also that this Insignia tablet uses the new USB-C (compact) charger. So if you have a micro-USB power cord you’ve been using, forget that. You’ll need to use the special charger that comes with this unit and plan on USB-C going forward. USB-C, though, is a new emerging standard in powering computer peripherals, so don’t fret.
But the biggest thing that gave me pause about this unit was its weight. At just over 3 pounds, it was surprisingly hefty. At least the heft, though, suggests a solidly built unit that should be able to take some roughhousing. But if you’re longing for a Surface, this most definitely isn’t your system – a Surface comes in a full pound lighter.
Battery life is to be determined; I wrote this review the day I got the unit. Based on the Windows estimate and my experience with other systems, I would say that under normal use – some video, some typing, some surfing, you can expect 5 to 6 hours of battery life. It’s not going to thrill users wanting a full 8-hour day out of it, but it will last a while.
So, who is this system for, and who is it not for? It is certainly not for power users, that’s for sure. Folks accustomed to 4GB of RAM or more, a 256 GB hard drive, and 2-lb. Units will dislike this unit – and will need to look at units starting at $400 to get what they’re wanting. The limited hard drive space built in will prevent the installation of larger applications, particularly those from Microsoft (like Visual Studio, a major software development package).
I would say this system is for anyone wanting an entertainment device that can do light productivity and web surfing. High-definition video looks great on it, and graphics applications will be a joy to use – as long as they don’t suck up too much memory. High schoolers and maybe even some college students may find this device useful for assignments and homework – but NOT gaming, it has too little RAM and hard drive space to support more popular offerings. And, of course, anyone curious about Windows 10 but not wanting to spend loads will enjoy this system.
This Insignia tablet continues Insignia’s commitment to low-priced offerings that look great, perform great, and offer much bang for the buck. If they can just work out a few of the bugs in this new tablet, they’ll have another winner for most users. And if its price drops it may become an even better buy, snap it up.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+338points
369of 400voted this as helpful.
 
GadgetGuy's Review Comments
 
GadgetGuy has not submitted comments on any reviews.
 
GadgetGuy's Questions
 
GadgetGuy has not submitted any questions.
 
GadgetGuy's Answers
 
GadgetGuy has not submitted any answers.