Mecer LUCID Slate Tablet Multi Touch Screen
I collected my Mecer Lucid Slate last week Friday, and have now had almost a week with it. Here are some of my impressions.
Specifications: Mecer LUCID Slate Tablet Multi Touch Screen (Intel NM10), Intel Pineview Atom N450 1.66GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB SSD, 11.6" Multi Touch (1366x768) LCD display, WiFi, Bluetooth, SD/MMC Card Reader, 1.3M Webcam, Speakers, Microphone, 2 x USB2.0, Mini-HDMI, Li-Polymer Battery, 1 x Mini PCIe slot, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, Dimension: 295 x 195 x 14mm Weight: 0.99kg, 1 Year Carry in Warranty
Unboxing: The standard brown box contained the Slate, 19V Universal PSU with 2 point into SA 3 point power cable and a set of Mecer recovery CD's. Also included in the shipment was a Zip case and a touchpad pen. The pen was strange, but I soon realised why....
1st Power-up: Standard Windows 7 1st boot, asking for username, computer name and network information. All this was easy to enter using the Windows 7 onscreen keyboard.
Using it:
It's Windows 7, so nothing strange. The issues around Windows 7 is the GUI wasn't designed for fingers. Hitting that little X to close a window, is not always possible on the first try. Mecer did include an application called "BossaNova2" which tries to give an interface for suited for touch on top of Windows. This however does not really succeed as it still embeds Internet Explorer into its view.
Get around this, and keep that pen that was in the box, and this thing is totally usable. I've already noticed that the 32Gb SDD might not have been enough, as Windows 7 alone takes over 12Gb of that in a running state. The addition of the SD card does help a lot to add quick simple storage.
HD YouTube playback is fine, and only stops when the machine tries to do something else at the same time. The build-in speakers are not the greatest, but are adequate.
The beauty of this device, is using the docking station. Plug your USB Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers and Ethernet directly into the dock, and you have a desktop PC when you dock.
I will be trying some none Microsoft operating systems.
Pro's:
- Load any O/S, without voiding the warranty!
- 11" Screen,
- Mini-HDMI output with included cable,
- SD/MMC card reader, and
- USB Ports.
Con's:
- Intel CPU cooled by fan and does make a noise,
- Only a power button on the whole unit,
- Build quality on the docking station bit lacking, and
- Windows 7.
Overall, I'm happy and very happy I did not need to drop my hard earned money on something from Apple.
