My DELL Latitude 10 Essentials is here!!!

Few days ago I pulled the trigger on my first tablet purchase. Even though the default tablet of choice is the iPad, I had a few requirements which the iPad (specifically the iOS) was incapable of. One of the the ability to access any file on the main PC without needing a man in the middle - in the case of the iPad, the man in the middle is iTunes which, we all know, is a horrible app on the Windows platform. Android cannot do it either. The obvious choice was a Windows 8 tablet. WinRT? No thanks. I didn't want to be bogged down by lack of metro apps. So Windows 8 it was.

There weren't many options available. I had to choose one from the grand list of 3. The Asus Vivo Tab Smart, the DELL Latitude Essentials and the Acer Iconia W510. After referring many material on the Internet, I decided to go with the DELL Latitude 10 Essentials. I had the option to choose English language version of the OS, so I went with it. But I had no idea that this simple change would add an extra week or so to the ETA. I ordered the tablet on the 27th of February but the ETA was 10th of March.

Luckily I had @DellCares as a twitter contact and I was able to pull the date of delivery a bit earlier than originally predicted. They were very helpful and regularly communicated with me over twitter. So I received the tablet on 8th of March - that was yesterday. I was at work so my wife had received the delivery. And then there was a meeting and a get together at work and I didn't have my time to play with the tablet yesterday. I played with it a little - not long enough to be comfortable using the tablet. Not to mention I had an exam in the next morning on one of free online courses that I am following on Coursera. I didn't have to do it today, but I just wanted it finished ASAP.

After using the tablet for a little while, I must say that, using Windows 8 on a tablet is not very easy – at least the non-touch friendly UI. There is a lot to learn as well even though using Windows on the desktop is a walk in the park. The biggest problem I'm having is that I'm so used to the keyboard shortcuts on my desktop and sometimes I cannot remember how to do things the old fashioned way. There is no Windows key that you can use in conjunction with other keys to do certain tasks. Getting the tablet ready the way I want is a much difficult task than I originally expected.