The Bottom Line
The Asus VivoTab Smart ME400 is ideal for people who want a relatively inexpensive device running full Windows 8. Its low price and very good specifications makes it really a good buy. But, if you are seeing this tablet as a probable laptop replacement, then, be warned, that, its low performing Atom processor makes it impossible to run demanding softwares. So, go for this only if you are not planning to run something resource hungry.
Read full review...What You Will Like...
- Uses full Windows 8
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, NFC, Bluetooth & GPS enabled
- Decent build quality
- Good battery life
- Better 8MP rear camera
- Relatively cheap
What You Won't Like...
- Audio quality not that great
- Processor slow
| ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C | |
|---|---|
| Read User Reviews | |
| Overall Rating | |
| Manufacturer | ASUS |
| Operating System | Windows 8 |
The Asus VivoTab Smart ME400 running full version of Windows 8 is a 10.1-inch touch-screen tablet pc currently available for as low as $487.00 on Amazon. Undoubtedly, at $487 price tag, it is a strong contender for any budget shopper looking for a well performing Windows tablet under $500. Apart from its highly competitive pricing, the fact that it runs full blown Windows 8 gives it a real advantage as it can run Windows apps downloaded from the Windows Store, along with the legacy windows software which is not possible with devices using Windows RT.
What comes in the box?
- ASUS VivoTab Smart Tablet
- Adapter & Power Plug
- Owner’s Manual
- Warranty Card
- Cleaning Cloth
Unfortunately, micro USB to USB, and micro HDMI to HDMI adapters are not included in the box. But, thankfully these don’t cost high, and can be purchased by spending few bucks extra. Just make sure you are buying an OTG compatible micro USB to USB adapter, if you want to take advantage of connecting devices like USB mouse, flash drives, etc. to the tablet.
Design & Build
The Asus VivoTab Smart ME400-C1-BK is available in two color options, black and white, with both of them measuring 262.5 x 171 x 9.7 mm (WxDxH) in dimensions and weighing 580 grams. Due to its incredibly thin and lightweight design, it is very convenient to carry it anywhere.
The front of ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK is all glass with a thick black bezel having Asus logo on top left position and the Windows logo that acts like a soft Home button. The rear panel is made of polycarbonate curving in to form the sides making it very comfortable to grip and hold. The rear panel has rubbery feel which does not attract fingerprints and scratches easily making it feel more expensive. While the power button placed on the top left and a tiny reset hole at the top near the right-hand corner, the volume rocker and 3.5mm headphone jack are placed on the right.
Now, coming on to the build quality, the Asus VivoTab Smart ME400 is solidly built thankfully to Asus’ usually high standards of manufacturing. As expected, the tablet feels really sturdy with no signs of flex.
Display & Audio
The ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK display measures 10.1″ diagonally and has a resolution of 1,366 x 768. The display uses IPS (In-Plane-Switching) technology offering wider viewing angles of 178° and bolder colors by allowing more light to pass through the panel. It is due to use of IPS panels, light bleed (slight glow around the edges and corners) may occur in the device which is entirely normal. The touch panel is capacitive with multi-touch functionality. The screen is bright and sharp, but, even 350 nits of brightness is not enough to make the screen easily viewable outdoors.
The audio quality of ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK is not very great, mostly because the single speaker located on the backside doesn’t get very loud and is also at the risk of getting muffled. The Asus SonicMaster Technology which aims to deliver more powerful sounds and richer bass to provide the best audio experience doesn’t help either. If your plan is to watch movies or listen to your favorite songs on this tablet, you’ll definitely need to use some good quality headphones for better enjoyment.
Performance
The ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK is using Intel Atom Z2760 dual core processor clocked at 1.8 GHz and 2GB DDR2 RAM clocked at 800MHz. For handling graphics, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator clocked at 533MHz is integrated. Since, it uses Atom Z2760 processor which was developed keeping low power consumption a priority, don’t expect it to run very demanding games and softwares. However, office suites like MS Office, some older games like Age of Empires 3, World of Warcraft, Fallout, etc. runs flawlessly. Overall, you can expect very good performance for every day computing. As stated above, anything demanding like Adobe Photoshop doesn’t runs very well.
Moreover, If you are fond of multitasking, then you will be pleased to know that you can have multiple browsers/tabs open and it would work great without any glitch.
Features & Apps
Camera
The ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK has dual cameras. The rear 8MP auto-focus camera with LED flash is capable of recording 1080p videos and produces crisp and clear images. On the other hand, the 2MP front facing camera is far from top quality, but for Skype video calling it serves the purpose well.
Storage Space
The device comes with 64GB of storage space, out of which, around 8GB is occupied by the recovery partition and another 20GB is used by OS and other Asus proprietary softwares, thankfully, very less bloatwares are loaded. Thus, at the end you are left with only around 33GB of usable space. If that sounds less to you, then ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK also has a micro-SD slot, which support up to additional 64GB.
Connectivity
The ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK has wide variety of connectivity features. It has NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 for file sharing. The files and contact cards can conveniently be shared with other NFC enabled devices, the only limitation to this is that other NFC devices should also be using Windows 8 operating system. Not only this, there is GPS also, but is usable when the tablet is connected to a working WiFi connection. The WiFi of this device which supports 802.11 b/g/n standards is also very good with good signal reception.
Apps
The tablet is loaded with very less bloatware, only Asus Live Update, Web Storage, MS Office trial version and some other windows apps are included. It won’t be wrong to say that the use of full version of Windows 8 32-bit edition is its biggest advantage.
Battery Life
The battery of ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400C-C1-BK is non removable. You can expect it to give roughly eight hours of battery life from a single charge while surfing internet and with WiFi enabled. To get more juice from the battery, reduce the screen brightness as its the easiest way to save battery life.