The Dell Venue 11 Pro 7000 Review
by Brett Howse on April 16, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Dell
- Windows 8.1
- Core M
Final Words
In my time with the Venue 11 Pro, what has defined the tablet is not the hardware itself, but the accessories. Dell offers such a range of options that the tablet can be anything from a desktop PC, to a clamshell laptop, to a very portable mobile device. They really have hit all of the options which gives the customers a lot of choice in what they want to do with this device.
Starting with the dock, Dell has crafted a sturdy, solid, easy to use dock which offers plenty of ports. USB, Ethernet, headphones, HDMI, and DisplayPort are all on tap, so the Venue 11 Pro can easily be plugged in and used as a desktop replacement. The finish and materials of the dock are top notch, and amazingly it only sells for $79.99, which is much less than the Surface Dock that Microsoft sells. It is not perfect due to the 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, but for many offices, the addition of any wired networking is a big improvement over wireless anyway, and is sometimes necessary.
The Stylus is also excellent. It is powered by a single AAA battery, which if it does ever die, is easy to obtain and replace. The point is very smooth, and glides effortlessly over the tablet’s glass. Accuracy was also excellent on this new version of the Synaptics stylus, and the only time I had issues was at the very edges of the display. It is great for writing, and it makes a big difference when navigating the desktop as well.
The Mobile keyboard dock is not everything I hoped it would be, and is the one accessory that really let me down. The included battery can make a big difference in overall run time, which is excellent, but it adds a lot of thickness and a lot of mass to the device. Not only that, but the keyboard and trackpad are sub-par, and were frustrating to use. They are both passable, but I have used other Dell devices which offer a much better experience, so Dell needs to step up here especially with the price. The tablet does latch into the keyboard very well though, which makes it a much better laptop experience than a device which may have a non-connected or Bluetooth keyboard attachment.
Dell did not ship me the slim keyboard, so I will not make any comments on the use of that particular accessory. It will obviously provide a keyboard when needed, without all of the added bulk of the mobile version, but without the laptop hinge and battery which is part of the mobile version.
The Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet, when considered as a pure tablet, has some shortcomings due to the very nature of what makes it an excellent hybrid device. At 10.8 inches in screen size, it never felt too big to use as a tablet, but the extra thickness and mass of it make it hard to compete against some of the pure tablets out there. It does use the extra size to great effect though, with the Venue 11 Pro packing a full personal computer into its chassis. These are not tablet parts inside, with a Core processor, 8 GB of memory, and a Solid State Drive at the heart of this device. The performance is quite a bit better than pretty much all other fanless tablets around.
We have evaluated Core M in detail, and the Venue 11 Pro really pushes Core M to the limit of what it is capable of, but that does not take away from the performance that is there. Compared to a Bay Trail Atom powered tablet, there really is no competition. The performance delta between Bay Trail and Broadwell, even in similar power envelopes, is massive. For what it was meant to do, Core M delivers outstanding performance in a fanless tablet. Once you start comparing it to higher TDP Core parts, it can fall down a bit, but none of them can be used in a fanless device like this one. It will be curious to see how it compares to the Cherry Trail based Atom cores that have just started to appear in devices such as the Microsoft Surface 3.
Using the Venue 11 Pro on a day to day basis never really felt like it was a tablet. The combination of plenty of memory, a SSD, and Core M, really made it feel like a proper ultrabook. Battery life was also quite good considering the compact size and relatively small battery inside. Adding the mobile keyboard dock increases battery life to great levels.
Really, there is not a lot of competition for the Venue 11 Pro right now. If you are looking for a business class tablet with a Core processor and proper accessories like a dock, there is the Dell Venue 11 Pro and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Both feature Ultrabook class components inside, but have different trade-offs, with the Surface Pro 3 having better performance and active cooling. That puts the Venue 11 Pro into a class of its own, with the fanless design of a Core M tablet. The starting price of just $699 undercuts the Surface Pro 3 Core i3 version by $150, which is not insignificant.
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thunng8 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
A8X in the iPad Air 2 does ~1820 in single threaded geekbenchTrackSmart - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
This seems like an overly strong statement ("horrible!" -- for the price).Core M is a low-power platform. For standard office productivity tasks, it provides similar performance to 15 watt ultrabook processors, but only uses 4.5 watts of power. That's pretty impressive. I don't see where the "horrible" part comes into play. These are meant to be ultramobile parts. The laws of physics dictate that there will be some tradeoff between power consumption and performance when you are constrained by thermal limits and battery capacity.
-If you don't like Core M, choose a product built around a higher TDP platform and move to the other side of the curve (higher power consumption, but also consistently higher performance in continuous workloads).
-If you want a snappy system for standard office productivity tasks in the most mobile form-factor possible, choose a Core M product, and enjoy similar performance to 15 watt parts for "burst" oriented workloads, but in a thinner, lighter, longer-lasting form factor.
-If you want a cheaper price point, choose a slower product built around an Atom processor, which will offer a similar form factor but lower performance.
-And if you can live without Windows, sure, buy an ARM-based tablet.
** It's fantastic that we have these choices today. ** If your problem is the price of Core M, well, unfortunately we are talking about full-on Core architecture processors. Without greater competition, Intel isn't going to give these processors away at Atom prices. And especially not at ARM prices.
As for this particular product, I agree it does't look very "premium" to me, either, that has nothing to do with the Core M processor inside. I'm personally impressed with what Asus did with the UX305 for $699 and a Core M processor. Solid ultra-portable performance in a very thin chassis with long battery life.
Didn't mean to jump on you here. Just sort of surprised that anyone would call Core M itself horrible. Many people have been waiting for this kind of performance in such a low TDP x86 processor.
Qwertilot - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Apple have the resources that they presumably could (more or less) match the CPU single core of this, but I don't think putting so much single core performance into a tablet chip is what you'd chose to do if designing specifically for tablets.Especially with Apple being very keen on having lots and lots of graphics firepower to hand.
CoreM's design makes much more sense if you're going for fanless notebooks, at times with the cooling systems around to run it at somewhat higher power than you'd want for a tablet etc.
Marc GP - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Sorry, but no. Core M doesn't gives you the performance of a 15w ultrabook using only 4.5watts.Because it can only give you that for short bursts before seriously throttling and having to lower its clock from 2,8Ghz (turbo) to its nominal 1Ghz frequency, the only one they can keep for large periods.
Don't try anything that needs steady performance on a Core M, like gaming, for example.
TrackSmart - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think you read my post or the article itself very carefully. My post says that for typical office productivity tasks, which are burst-oriented, you get similar performance. I also say that if you want sustained higher performance, you need to move to a higher TDP. The article says similar things and shows benchmarks to demonstrate this. So what exactly are you arguing that I didn't say myself?My Post:
"For standard office productivity tasks, it provides similar performance to 15 watt ultrabook processors, but only uses 4.5 watts of power. ...choose a Core M product, and enjoy similar performance to 15 watt parts for "burst" oriented workloads, but in a thinner, lighter, longer-lasting form factor."
Article: In the PCMark 8 section, which simulates office productivity tasks -- "In these types of workloads, Core M can outperform [15 watt TDP] Haswell-U series parts from the Ultrabooks of last year, which is fairly impressive in a passively cooled device."
To "jjj", you still haven't provided a sensible argument. I'd love it if Intel sold these chips for $50, but it isn't going to happen. You'd have to be living on another planet to think otherwise. Until someone else offers similar x86 CPU performance in a comparable power envelope, these products are going to command prices that are similar to Intel's other Core series processors.
jjj - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
It's the worst chip in history!! lolLet me explain why and remember i said horrible for the price.
Die is about 80mm2 so similar to the Exynos 7420 and 50% smaller than a Snapdragon801. Sure it comes on a module so that adds to costs a bit but Intel launched it at some 280$. Even if an OEM would pay 3 times less ,the chip would still cost way way too much. Mobile chips that size sell for 15-30$ depending on how new they are (start at 30 and keep dropping during their lifetime), IHS just a couple of days ago estimated that the Exynos 7420 costs 29.5$ ( to buy not to make).
So Intel here is just abusing it's x86 monopoly and charging absurd prices for the chip. That's why we don't see tabs like this one at 300$ and why the chip is horrible. If it was below 50$ it would be fine but it's a hell of a lot more.
PS: you can check die size and price in one of the early articles on Core M here on AT.
jjj - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Correction- Meant to say that SD801 is 50% bigger or Core M is 33% smaller than SD801 and ended up with something else.smilingcrow - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Translation. It's a great chip but I can't afford it and I'm so very very angry.jjj - Thursday, April 16, 2015 - link
Not even a trace of anger ,i know Intel's ways too well for it's behavior to impress me and i can afford it but i'm not that stupid to buy it (not that i need it to begin with).Anyway , thanks for your valuable contribution to the conversation , it was a true delight.
akdj - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Excellent words 'crow. I'm thinking jjj doesn't understand X86, ARM, and bigLittle architecture NOR how a mobile processor is 'of benefit' to MOST people in today's world. They're as fast as the core i5 power in SB, close to IB and even with thermal limitations, it smokes the Intel iGPU 4000. I'm ambidextrous, using OS X and Windows Android and iOS. To exclaim 'the worst chip in history' considering where Intel was just 18 months ago VERY WELL be the MOST ignorant statement I've seen on Anand's site in some time. Regardless of price (remember, R&D must be recouped to bring the archtiecture's price down), and the magic Apple's done with 64 bit processing over the past two years, it's Qualcomm that's been blindsided. Samsung has switched to their chips, has the A9 contract and have settled disputes everywhere but America. The power of samsung and Apple's engineering prowess and chip trickery (A8x and A8, second and 2.5 gen 64bit chips are nearing a year old, as they start production early summer on the fall iOS releases), it's Intel and Apple/Samsung and TSMC. What the A8/A8x did for the iPad Air 2 is. Itching short of incredible and as an owner for almost nine months, I'm confident there are very few folks in this world that need 'more power' than iPad Air2, Nexus 9, or this Dell reviewed. Most of us that 'work' with a company supplied computer don't really feel like desktops when we get home. Don't have time with the kids and it's easy to throw in the truck and forget about the charger! Laptops are a PITA in comparison and not 'really' that much more capable ESPECIALLY if you use the tools built for and sold I the App Store. Every app of the million plus are optimized at this time for the A5/6 families of SoCs. That's the missing point here. With this Dell, the entire world of software 'Windows built' is now available to you with significantly faster storage and a mature 64bit process from a company that's led the way in silicon for thirty years. And they, like Apple, have the paper to test, retest and 'make it work'. Tegra. Tegra 3, 4 and now these ULV procs taking it to an entirely different level of performanceWith the iGPU it's a matter of efficient cooling in fabless designs to slow down the throttling. That's going to come as they continue the more efficient designs with Skylake and the future.
Just plain ignorance. So sad with all these power packed choices we've got now, their time is limited. Not enough room for a half dozen silicon manufacturers. 2, maybe three will win out and my bets on ARM, Intel and possibly Sammys Exnyos