Dell, following in the footsteps of many other PC retailers, just slashed the price of its only Windows RT tablet to a jaw-droppingly low $300.

For a limited time—though we'll see if that holds true—you can snag the 32GB Dell XPS 10 for a full $150 cheaper than its original $450 asking price. If you’re willing to spend a little bit more you can get the XPS 10 with a laptop dock for $350, or an LTE model for just $500—a whopping $280 reduction off the original price.

Windows 8's struggling baby brother

Dell’s RT bargain basement sale is just the latest in a long line of Windows RT price drops to try and get ARM-based devices off store shelves. As PC industry analyst Patrick Moorhead recently told us, PCs are like produce: the longer they sit on store shelves, the less desirable they become.

And there’s every indication Windows RT is starting to smell a bit ripe. In early April, Windows RT price drops were so widespread that they suggested the OS had failed to gain any traction. Not long after, the market research firm IDC reporte that only 200,000 Windows RT tablets were shipped between January and March.

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At PCWorld we work hard to stay on the cutting edge of technology, both in our reporting and with our publication. With that in mind, we’re proud to announce the launch of our newest PCWorld Digital Magazine Enhanced Editions, the Enhanced Android Edition and the Enhanced Kindle Edition—and, just as with the Enhanced iPad Edition, we’re pleased to offer them free to our current print subscribers!

The PCWorld Enhanced Editions differ from PDF and replica versions of the magazine and incorporate rich multimedia content, including videos, interactive slideshows and features, podcasts, and other elements. The pages are all optimized and include support for high-resolution displays, and are remastered into device-intuitive layouts that allow for unique navigation through each issue. Your options include using the interactive table of contents, swiping from page to page, or gliding through article content with the tip of your finger. Embedded links take you directly to related information within the issue as well as to websites for additional content, and the app allows you to bookmark and share articles via email and Twitter.

Print subscribers can access any of the Enhanced Editions in three easy steps. First, download the app from your device’s app store: For Android, you’ll find it on Google Play; for Kindle, it’s available on the Amazon Appstore; and on the iPad, use iTunes. Once you’ve downloaded and opened the app, tap the menu, and then tap My Account to log in. Enter the email address you provided when you signed up for your print subscription along with your PCWorld magazine account number (located on any print issue), and you’re all set.

Once you’ve logged in, your free issues of the Enhanced Edition will automatically appear in the Library section of the app. If you aren’t sure what email address you entered at the time of your subscription order, or if you need to add your email address to your account to get access, visit PCWorld Magazine Customer Service and update your account.

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We’re happy to announce that PCWorld Digital Magazine is now available in an Enhanced Android Edition—and along with the Enhanced Kindle Edition, we’re launching the Enhanced Android Edition free for print subscribers! The Enhanced Android Edition is available now for free download from Google Play, and supports any Android tablet with OS 3.0 and higher. If you’re not a print subscriber, you can buy a single issue for $6.99, or subscribe to PCWorld and get the Enhanced Android Edition for free (a $39.94 value).

The Enhanced Android Edition brings you the best possible experience of PCWorld magazine on any Android device, and includes optimized pages and support for high-resolution displays. The enhanced format enables us to provide rich multimedia content not available in print, including videos, interactive slideshows and features, and other elements. And because we’ve remastered the magazine content into an Android-friendly layout, you can use the intuitive gestures and touchscreen capabilities native to the Android platform to navigate each issue. Your options include using the interactive table of contents, swiping from page to page, or gliding through article content with the tip of your finger. Embedded links take you directly to related information within the issue as well as to websites for additional content, and the app allows you to bookmark and share articles via email and Twitter.

Print subscribers can access the PCWorld Enhanced Android Edition, for free, in three easy steps: Download the app from Google Play, tap My Account to log in, and enter the email address you provided when you signed up for your print subscription as well as your PCWorld magazine account number (located on any print issue).

Once you’ve logged in, your free issues of the Enhanced Android Edition will appear monthly in the Library section of the app. If you aren’t sure what email address you entered at the time of your subscription order, or if you need to add your email address to your account to get access, visit PCWorld Magazine Customer Service and update your account. For detailed directions with pictures, see pcworld.com/subscribe/free-android.

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Last May we launched the PCWorld Digital Magazine Enhanced iPad Edition, which we allowed print subscribers to access for free starting last month. And now we’re pleased to announce that we’ve created an Enhanced Kindle Edition!

We’ve designed the Enhanced Kindle Edition to deliver the best possible experience of PCWorld magazine on any Kindle Fire, including optimized pages and support for the HD displays of the newest Kindle Fire models. The enhanced format enables us to provide rich multimedia content not available in print, including videos, interactive slideshows and features, and other elements. And because we’ve remastered the magazine content into a Kindle Fire-friendly layout, you can use the intuitive gestures and touchscreen capabilities native to the Kindle Fire platform to navigate through each issue. Your options include using the interactive table of contents, swiping from page to page, or gliding through article content with the tip of your finger. Embedded links take you directly to related information within the issue as well as to websites for additional content, and the app allows you to bookmark and share articles via email and Twitter.

Print subscribers can access the PCWorld Enhanced Kindle Edition in three easy steps: Download the app from Amazon’s Appstore for Android, tap My Account to log in, and enter the email address you provided when you signed up for your print subscription as well as your PCWorld magazine account number (located on any print issue).

Once you’ve logged in, your free issues of the Enhanced Kindle Edition will appear monthly in the Library section of the app. If you aren’t sure what email address you entered at the time of your subscription order, or if you need to add your email address to your account to get access, visit PCWorld Magazine Customer Service and update your account. For detailed directions with pictures, see pcworld.com/subscribe/free-kindle.

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Despite all the Microsoft Surface hype, Windows 8 tablets have yet to find their niche. It’s difficult, after all, to be more expensive than Apple’s ever-cool iPad, yet less usable than a reasonably cheap laptop.

So what can the Asus VivoTab Smart—a slim little 10.1-inch tablet with a Clover Trail processor—bring to the table? Well, for one thing, it’s relatively cheap: the VivoTab starts at just $499, and that includes 64GB of built-in storage. It also runs the full version of Windows 8, so you don’t have to settle for Windows RT.

Good tablet performance and battery life

Just because it runs a desktop OS doesn't mean it runs like a PC, of course. Compare it to a low-powered Ultrabook, and it's toast. It’s moderately powerful for a tablet, however, scoring higher than similarly appointed models with Intel Pentium 6 CPUs and 2GB of memory, such as the Samsung XE500T1C-A01 and the Acer Iconia W510-1422. Battery life is good and long, at 7 hours and 36 minutes in our tests.

Of course, the $499 price tag doesn’t include the VivoTab’s accessories: a Smart Cover-esque magnetic screen protector that folds into a stand, and a separate, Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad. The screen protector/keyboard combo costs an additional $130, which means it’s about $629 for the full VivoTab Smart experience. This is still a fairly good deal—the Dell XPS 10 tablet with keyboard bundle also costs $629, but it has half the built-in storage.

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Will the HP Envy x2 evoke jealous thoughts in the coffee shop? Given its sleek, brushed-silver looks and thin clamshell design, probably. Will it stir the deeper emotions that other, faster convertible Windows 8 tablet/laptops do? Sorry HP, no. Still, this thoughtfully designed portable delivers enough battery life and performance to more than adequately fill the roles of both tablet and small laptop.

Light, usable design

The Envy x2 sports a 1366 by 768 (16:9), 11.6-inch display that shows off video well and delivers more than enough usable brightness. The tablet portion weighs a comfortable (given its wide nature) 1.54 pounds, with the 1.56-pound keyboard/port dock bringing that up to 3.1 pounds. All told, toting the package is no great feat. The tablet portion locks into the keyboard dock, and is released via a slide switch.

Most of the EnvyxX2's ports reside on the dock, including a headset jack, HDMI video output, and two USB 2.0 ports. The lack of USB 3.0 or any other high-speed interface for backing up is a minor quibble given the light-use nature of the product. There's also a SDHC car reader, and a large power connector jack. Connectivity (all on the tablet) includes 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, as well as Near-Field Communication, though there are few applications for the latter at the moment.

The tablet portion sports the usual features: a 1080 display-side Webcam, an 8-megapixel back camera, plus an ambient light sensor. There are only two ports--the power jack and the headset jack. With no USB or card reader, you'll need to load or offload data docked or via Wi-Fi. The tablet also has a power button and rocker-volume switch which are placed handily on the back, just a short reach from where your fingers fall when holding the tablet with both hands.

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PC gaming is poised to break free from the desktop. It just needs a device that delivers fast frame rates and lush graphics in an affordable, portable package. Enter the Razer Edge Pro, a Windows 8 tablet built expressly for playing PC games on the go. The hardware even comes with an optional controller accessory that turns the tablet into a handheld game console.

But Razer's pitch goes way beyond gaming. The company is marketing the Edge Pro as a multi-purpose machine that can replace your laptop, desktop, tablet, and, yes, even your Xbox, PS3 and Wii. After using the premier version of Razer's new tablet as my primary device for a week, I think it comes close to delivering on its multi-disciplinary promise, if you're willing to make some compromises.

First, the good news: It works. Thanks to a Core i7 processor and discrete Nvidia graphics, the tablet is powerful enough to run Far Cry 3 and Dishonored at decent frame rates. And thanks to Windows 8 Pro, it can run legacy desktop applications, including essential gaming utilities like Steam, uPlay and the launchers for World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2. The Edge Pro also easily chews through productivity applications, handling the processor-intensive Photoshop with aplomb.

The bad news: Whether you’re playing games, watching movies, editing images, or writing tablet reviews, the Edge Pro requires significant compromises. In terms of raw processing performance, sure, the tablet can do everything. But in terms of ergonomics, convenience, display quality and price, the tablet falls short of more specialized, cheaper devices. We reviewed the highest spec'ed version of the Edge Pro, and at $1450, it proved to be a luxury product for hardcore PC gamers only.

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Samsung’s latest Chromebook – the Series 3 XE303C12-A01US – is small, slim, and speedy. This little laptop weighs less than 2.5 pounds and packs a decent performance punch, assuming you’re comparing it to the right machines.

A laptop-shaped improvement to a tablet or smartphone

Google

Our review model, which costs $249.99 as configured, sports a 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core ARM processor, which is the same mobile system-on-a-chip found in the Google Nexus 10 tablet. Like the Nexus 10, the Chromebook pairs the Exynos 5 with 2GB of memory and 16GB of hard drive space.

The Chromebook also sports built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, two USB ports (one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0), a 3-in-1 card reader, and a headphone/microphone combination port. There’s also an HDMI-out port on the back of the machine. Samsung offers USB dongles for VGA-out and Ethernet (sold separately).

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It's a tough time to be a Windows 8 RT tablet. Sales seem to be slow, or even negative, for products using this 'lite' version of Windows 8. If Samsung's recent withdrawal of Windows RT products from the European market is any indication, these products are competing with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner for rockiest maiden flight.

What, if anything, can the Dell XPS 10 tablet do to sell itself when its category could be dying? Its saving grace could be its innovative design, which features batteries in both the tablet and dock. When the two halves are married, the XPS 10 delivers a stellar 16 hours of run time--a major selling point if you're commuting internationally. The unit is also handsome in a conservative way, and tactilely appealing thanks to Dell's soft touch paint on the exterior.

On the down side, the performance is just average compared to other RT tablets. The display's 16:9 aspect ratio is less than optimal for reading, and the keyboard and touchpad could be a lot better than they are.

From great battery life to sensational battery life

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Surface RT was a broken promise. When it launched in October, it showed the world a vision of a revolutionary tablet-laptop hybrid, but it couldn’t close the deal. But now we have Surface with Windows 8 Pro, part two of Microsoft’s always fascinating, sometimes heartbreaking Surface saga. This is the hardware everyone has been waiting for. Surface RT was the warm-up act, the proof-of-concept, but the good money has always been on Surface Pro, the Surface sibling with PC-caliber specs and a fully functioning desktop.

image: robert cardin

The good news: Surface Pro is a marked improvement over Surface RT. It has a vastly better display and Ultrabook-caliber components. And thanks to Windows 8 Pro, it can run all the legacy desktop applications that we need for serious productivity. Surface Pro comes much closer than Microsoft’s ARM-based RT offering to fulfilling that elusive promise of uniting a tablet and a PC in a single, uncompromised package.

The bad news: Surface Pro doesn’t run away with the Windows 8 hybrid crown. And based on your needs, it might not be the best Windows 8 portable you can buy in the neighborhood of $1000. This is a problem because Surface Pro needs to stand out as a kick-ass reference design, and not be just another interesting-but-imperfect hardware option for anyone taking the Windows 8 plunge.

Microsoft is Microsoft, damn it! It owns Windows. Its war chest is huge. If it can’t conceive, manufacture, and market the hands-down best Windows 8 hybrid in the world, it’s got unfinished business.

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Acer's Iconia W510 is a 16:9, widescreen Windows 8 tablet with a nicely-designed keyboard dock. When sidled down and locked into said dock, the W5 appears and functions as a small, netbook-sized laptop. Alas, the W5 dock is a pricey option--the $750 W510-1422 and $800 W510P-1406 configurations that include it are $200 more than the otherwise identical dock-less models.

Widescreen tablet

The 16:9 aspect ratio of the Iconia W510's 10.1-inch, 1366 by 768 display is mirrored by the unit's 10.2-inch by 7.3-inch form --a form quite common in the Windows 8 tablet realm. The wide aspect is both good and bad news; While 16:9 is perfect for movies, it's considerably less so when held in portrait orientation to read books or surf the Web--one of the major reasons that 4:3 aspect units have ruled the marketplace. But if video is your focus, the W5's widescreen can be appealing.

Feature-wise, the Iconia W510 is largely your standard Windows tablet. Features include micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports, an SDHC card reader, a headset jack, plus a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 1.3MP display-side Webcam. There are a Windows button to facilitate alternating between the Windows 8 Metro and classic Windows interfaces, and a rotation lock to fix the image in portrait or landscape mode. Wi-Fi is 802.11 a/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 are both on hand for top-notch wireless connectivity.

Ho-hum looks

As conceived and realized as the W510's dock is mechanically, Acer could have done better with its appearance. The W510 looks nice enough on its own, but when combined with the docking station, the two shades of white (dock keys/tablet bezel), black, and silver color scheme give the unit as a whole a vaguely cheap feel. Neither part is cheaply made, but visual impressions can be hard to shake.

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Windows 8 opens up some interesting design possibilities for computing devices, and Acer's Iconia W700 epitomizes the hybrid desktop/tablet or modular small PC possibility. The W700 can be used as a normal Windows 8 tablet, but ships with a docking station/stand and Bluetooth keyboard that allow you to use it as you would a normal touchscreen PC. It's a good idea that, unfortunately, isn't perfectly implemented.

PCWorld earlier took a close look at an engineering sample of the W700. This review is based on shipping hardware.

Design and Usability

Measuring 11.6-inches wide by 7.5-inches tall and a little less than a half-inch thick, the tablet portion of the W700 is larger than average. Weighing in at 2.1 pounds, this is not a tablet that is comfortable to hold for extended periods, so rest it on your stomach if you plan to read War and Peace.

The W700 controls are the standard Windows tablet variety. On the right side is the power button and rocker volume control. On the front, there's the Windows 8 button for switching between the Metro interface and desktop mode.

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Whether Samsung is trying to confuse buyers into thinking they’re buying a laptop, or can’t make up its mind what it is, the Samsung ATIV Smart PC is (mostly) a tablet. Sure, it’s got a nearly full-size keyboard, but the keyboard is included as a detachable accessory. The slender tablet, just 9.9mm thin, is only three ounces heavier than an iPad. Even the CPU, the Atom Z2760 (“Clover Trail”) is Intel’s attempt to take on ARM-based CPUs. Users expecting a laptop may end up disappointed.

The ATIV Smart PC is really a harbinger of things to come. The Smart PC’s performance as a laptop leaves a lot to be desired, but it keeps up pretty well with the current crop of ARM-based tablets, both Android and iOS. But you can still dock it to its keyboard, carry it around and use it as a standard clamshell laptop. It also runs the full version of Windows 8, not the semi-crippled Windows RT that runs on Microsoft’s Surface RT. But it’s Clover Trail processor is 32-bit only, and while it’s fine for web browsing, email and light duty office chores, you’d never mistake it for a full-featured laptop.

The tablet under the hood

When you dig down into the specs, the hardware mix more closely resembles a tablet than a laptop. The system ships with 2GB of DDR2 memory and 64GB flash storage. The 11.6-inch screen is 1366 by 768 pixels. The screen is large for a tablet, but the resolution is more akin to the Surface RT than the iPad’s Retina display. However, 11.6 inches is small enough that you don’t see individual pixels, so it’s not a major issue.

All major controls are on the tablet part itself. The power button, volume controls, a power jack, one USB 2.0 port and a microSD card slot are built into the tablet. This makes the SmartPC pretty self-contained. The keyboard dock lacks any buttons or controls, but does include two additional USB 2.0 ports and a power connector. The power connector is needed, since the tablet’s power connector disappears into the dock latch.

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More than a year ago, Microsoft invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s plan to spin-off its Nook business. At the time, the deal promised a few tablet-centric possibilities. Would Nook tablets dump Android in favor of Windows? Would the Nook catalog be part of an entertainment-centric device like the still-mythical Xbox Surface?

Twelve months later, all Microsoft has to show for its Nook investment is a Windows 8 modern UI app—an app that probably would have landed in the Windows Store anyway. But new reports suggest that hasn't soured Steve Ballmer and co.'s taste for the Barnes & Noble spin-off. In fact, Microsoft may have even bigger plans for Nook.

TechCrunch recently got its hands on internal documents that show Microsoft is pondering an outright acquisition of Nook Media LLC for a cool $1 billion.

But what use would Microsoft have for a struggling e-book business? For $1 billion, this has to be more than just a strategic acquisition to keep Nook out of the hands of competitors like Google or Amazon.

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A standards organization has created a boot environment for tablets and PCs that could potentially run a 64-bit version of Windows RT.

The UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Forum on Wednesday announced that its boot firmware specifications will now support ARMv8, a 64-bit processor architecture announced by ARM in 2011. ARM’s processors are used in most smartphones and tablets, and chip makers such as Nvidia and Samsung are expected to release 64-bit processors for smartphones and tablets in the future.

Microsoft on Windows 8 and RT requires PCs and tablets to carry a feature called Secure Boot, which prevents a system from being hijacked. The Secure Boot environment is based on UEFI firmware and ARM has already said it is working with Microsoft to develop a 64-bit version of Windows for ARM-based devices. However, it is not yet clear when the OS will come out.

ARM expects 64-bit processors to start shipping later this year or early next year. Most smartphones and tablets today use 32-bit ARM processors.

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Would you pay an extra $50 for a pint-sized tablet if it ran Windows 8 instead of Android? Asus thinks you might.

The Taiwan-based electronics maker plans to release a smaller Windows 8 tablet later this year, Asus CEO Jerry Shen recently told The Wall Street Journal. Shen also expects the new Windows 8 tablets to hit prices below $300 to better compete with cheaper Android-based tablets such as the Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Microsoft began paving the way for sub 10-inch Windows 8 tablets in March by slashing licensing fees for Windows and Office, and reducing screen resolutions for official Windows hardware requirements. Windows Blue, a Windows 8 refresh expected to roll out as Windows 8.1 later in 2013, is also expected to feature enhancements more suitable for small-fry tablets. Most notably, Windows 8.1’s Snap feature is expected to work with resolutions as low as 1024-by-768; the current version of Snap requires a minimum 1366-by-768 resolution. Snap is a Windows 8 feature that allows two modern UI apps to be viewed side-by-side.

Microsoft’s partners are also working towards a mini Windows 8 tablet revolution. Intel is prepping new Bay Trail Atom processors using the new Silvermont microarchitecture that could pave the way for $200 Windows 8 laptops and tablets. Microsoft is reportedly working on its own 7-inch Surface tablet, Amazon recently leaked an 8.1-inch Windows 8 tablet from Acer, and now Asus is excited to join the mini-Windows fray.

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In an interview yesterday with CNBC, Bill Gates shared his views on Microsoft’s position in the mobile device market.  After arguing that iPad users are “frustrated” by the limitations of their devices, he stated that with Windows 8, Microsoft is poised to scoop up the many consumers who demand greater capability out of their tablet.

“Via Surface and Surface Pro, you’ve got that portability of a tablet but also the richness – in terms of a keyboard and Microsoft Office – of a PC,” Gates said. 

“It’s getting harder to distinguish products whether they are tablets or PCs,” He continued, “Windows 8 is revolutionary in that it takes the value of the tablet and PC, and is able to support both of those.”

Gates’ comments echo some of the common arguments Windows loyalists make when attempting to trump Apple fans.  Without the capabilities of MS Office, iPad users have a harder time doing full-scale computing.  Apple operating systems are designed for either mobile (iOS) or full-scale computing (OSX), while Windows 8 was designed to be optimal for both, as well as any gray area in between.  Also, the proliferation of devices with varying weights, sizes, features, and capabilities leaves the options wide open for Windows users, while Apple fans have only a handful of options.  

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Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates stuck to the company line on tablets Monday, and disparaged rival Apple’s iPad for its lack of a keyboard and its inability to run Office.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program, Gates, who appeared alongside his friend and fellow billionaire, Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Gates was asked about the PC sales slump and the concurrent rise of tablets.

But if viewers were hoping for some new insight into Microsoft’s strategy, they were to be disappointed, as Gates essentially parroted what others at the company have said previously.

Wikimedia Commons/World Economic Forum

“[Windows 8] takes the benefits of the tablet and benefits of the PC, and it’s able to support both of those,” said Gates, repeating the messaging Microsoft CEO Steve Baller and Tami Reller, CFO and head of marketing for the Windows division, have used numerous times.

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The first-ever small-screen Windows tablet made a brief appearance on Amazon.com today, before quickly being yanked from the online retailer's e-shelves.

While Acer was busy showing off a smattering of large-screen Windows devices in New York Friday, the 8.1-inch Acer Iconia W3-810-1600 was briefly available for perusal in the digital realm. Why does that matter? Because all Windows 8 tablets released thus far have packed 10-inch or larger displays, as Microsoft's operating system was engineered before diminutive tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire became all the rage.

Microsoft has tweaked a bevy of features and specs since the release of Windows 8 to create a friendlier environment for smaller slates. The OS's hardware certification program recently dropped the minimum allowable screen resolution for Windows 8 tablets from 1366-by-768 down to 1024-by-768, while leaked builds of the impending Windows Blue update sported a Snap feature that works just fine on tiny tablets. (Previously, Snap only worked on displays with that 1366-by-768 resolution.)

As far as Acer's Iconia W3 goes, rumors of the 8-inch slate first surfaced in late April. It's still yet to make an official debut, but the Amazon page revealed that the tablet packs a dual-core Atom processor, along with numerous other technical details you can see in the image to the right.

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Amazon.com has updated its mobile app store to include support for its Chinese customers, in a sign that the U.S. company could be preparing to sell its Kindle e-readers and tablets in the country.

The update effectively launches a new version of Amazon's app store built in the Chinese language. The store comes in the form of an Android app, and the company has been promoting it since this past weekend.

The arrival of the new store comes just months after Amazon launched its Kindle e-book service in China last December. Both are key platforms for bringing content to the company's Kindle devices in the U.S. market. But in China, Amazon has yet to start selling its tablet and e-reader hardware, and its local offices have been mum on a future release date. The company on Monday did not immediately respond for comment.

Despite the absence of official sales, the Chinese market is showing some "pent-up demand" for Amazon's e-readers, said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. Research data from last year showed that Chinese consumers were increasingly buying the e-readers from overseas markets, he added.

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Windows RT tablets grabbed just 0.4 percent of the tablet market in the first quarter, a dismal result that led some tech experts to urge Microsoft to scrap the platform that's in its six-month infancy.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they do streamline and do drop [Windows RT]," said Brian Proffitt, an adjunct instructor of management at Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business , in an interview. "Microsoft is going to remain heavily invested in its Surface tablet strategy, but that doesn't preclude them from making changes and cutting. Cutting Windows RT would be a smart move, unless the number of shipments suddenly improves."

Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, was more blunt: "I believe Microsoft would be much better off killing RT and going with one unified tablet OS [with Windows 8]. The need to support ARM [processors] was why Microsoft went with RT. But it never really worked that well."

IDC said last week that just 200,000 tablets running Windows RT, including Microsoft's own Surface RT, shipped in the first quarter, which was 0.4 percent of the total market of 49.2 million tablets. Windows RT tablets first started shipping late last October, although Samsung early on decided not to ship a Windows RT tablet in the U.S.

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Back in January I wrote about the "inconvenient truth" of trying to charge your iPad from a USB port: there's not enough juice.

My recommendation at the time was Digital Innovations' ChargeDr, a USB dongle that allows tablets and other devices to charge more quickly. It works (quite well, in fact), but it's a $30 solution.

If you fancy free workarounds instead, check out Asus Ai Charger. This free utility promises to charge iPhones, iPods, and iPads up to 50 percent faster using your PC's existing USB ports.

That's a pretty lofty claim: software that can boost the effective power output of hardware? It sounds almost impossible, but I'm here to tell you: it works.

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When you buy an ebook from Amazon, it's yours, right? Technically speaking, Amazon is merely licensing the book to you. And the company can, seemingly on a whim, close your account and delete all your books.

This isn't likely to happen, but it gives me pause. Indeed, it makes me want to back up the books I bought and paid for, just in case. What's more, if I ever decide I want to read those books using, say, another reader (be it an app or device), I'd like the option of converting them to another format.

Both options require the removal of Amazon's DRM -- the digital lock the company puts on its books to prevent unauthorized sharing.

I have no intention of sharing. I simply want to exercise my fair-use rights. Luckily, it's possible to remove Amazon's DRM (at your own risk, of course) using free book manager Calibre and a couple plug-ins.

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Fiddling with the Registry is old hat to anyone conversant with Windows, but Microsoft's Surface RT—well, that's a tablet with a specialized version of Windows. Surely it has no Registry to hack, right?

Wrong—and stop calling me Shirley. (Dang, that joke just doesn't work in print.)

It turns out that you can indeed access the Registry of a Surface RT tablet, and one of the first discovered tweaks can greatly reduce the lag time between touching the screen and getting a response.

Let me just pause right here and note that if you've never noticed any lag on your Surface, or it doesn't bother you, it's probably not worth monkeying with the Registry. As always, any changes you make therein can have undesirable results, so I don't recommend this to anyone who's not an intermediate or advanced user.

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Tablets are easy to carry around, but your hands need a break from holding them. Resting your mitts keeps you productive for a longer stretch and prevents repetitive stress injuries. Making a tablet stand on its own is a necessity for running a videoconference, or for deploying your tablet as a second screen next to your desktop or laptop. These unique tablet stands do the heavy lifting and free you to focus on serious work, whether you’re at the office, on a plane, or even in bed.

New Trent’s iGeek iPad and smartphone charger is portable and lightweight, just about nine ounces. A little larger than most handsets, it charges an iPhone 4S in about 2 hours and recharges itself in 5.8 hours. The gizmo is compatible with iPads, the Samsung Galaxy Note, and the BlackBerry PlayBook. It comes with Micro- and Mini-USB cables, and works with all original Apple cables.

Battery capacity: 9900 mAh Price: $69.95, New Trent

This is an updated, Firefox-oriented version of a post I wrote several months ago.

If you're a Firefox user and Kindle (or Kindle app) owner, today's your lucky day: You can now send Web pages directly to your mobile device.

Amazon has long offered the option of e-mailing documents to your Kindle, but this is only the second time Send to Kindle has branched out to a browser.

Just add the Send to Kindle extension to Firefox (it's also available for Chrome, with a Safari version coming soon), then navigate to any Web page you want to save. You can also select text on a page if you don't need the whole thing.

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So do I, Dick. And I've had the same experience.

I'm guessing that you're using Apple's own spreadsheet app, Numbers, which is a part of the company's iWork collection of office apps (you can't call it a suite because Apple only sells the programs separately). None of the iWork programs play well with Dropbox, and as near as I can tell, that's intentional.

On a Windows PC, Dropbox integrates itself with the operating system's own file management system, making it compatible with everything. But the iPad's operating system, iOS, doesn't have a file management system--or at least not one accessible to the user. Every app manages its own files. And the app gets to decide with what other apps it will share those files, and how it will share them.

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Amazon has long offered the option of e-mailing documents to your Kindle, but this is the first time Send to Kindle has branched out to a browser.

Just add the Send to Kindle extension to Chrome, then navigate to any Web page you want to save. (You can also select text on a page if you don't need the whole thing.)

When you click the Send to Kindle icon at the end of your address bar (it's represented by a little 'K'), you'll see two main options: Send to Kindle and Preview & Send. (If you've selected text, you'll also see Send Selected Text.) All pretty self-explanatory, no?

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Trying to decide between, say, the hot new Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S? How about the Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 tablets?

Sure, PC World's reviews can help tremendously, but sometimes it's nice to see a blow-by-blow comparison between the exact models you've narrowed down.

For that, head to Versus IO. This handy site lets you compare two mobile phones or tablets side-by-side, giving you not only an overview of their features, but also explanations as to what those features' advantages are.

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