Gigabyte S1185 review

This is a shame, as its underlying components make the S1185 one of the most capable Windows 8 tablets we’ve seen. It’s powered by a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3337U processor, the same processor used in many Core i5-based Ultrabooks. The S1185’s overall score of 39 in our multimedia benchmarks is lower than we expect from this processor, and the score is eight points behind that of the Microsoft Surface Pro 2. However, the S1185 is considerably more powerful than Atom-based tablets such as the Dell Latitude 10, and the S1185 more than capable of everyday office tasks and web browsing.

Sadly, the Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processor built into the S1185’s CPU chip isn’t suited to playing 3D games, and the S1185 failed to produce an average frame rate of 15fps in our Dirt Showdown laptop graphics test. We had to set quality settings to Low and disable anti-aliasing to produce an average frame rate of 24.8fps at a resolution of 1,280×720, but even that isn’t high enough for truly smooth play. However, you should have no problem playing 2D games from the Windows 8 Store.

The S1185’s main advantage over other Windows 8 tablets is its wide range of ports and connections. It has one USB3 port, one USB2 port, HDMI and VGA display outputs, a microSD card slot, and a combined headphone and microphone jack. The S1185 even has a SIM card slot, which means you can stay connected to the internet when travelling.

Unfortunately, the S1185 was a lot less pleasant to type on than either the Surface Pro 2 or the Acer Aspire P3. Aside from its flimsy, rubbery dock, the flat keys didn’t produce nearly enough tactile feedback as we’d have liked. There wasn’t much travel between the keys and keyboard tray, either, which made it feel as if we weren’t hitting the keys correctly.

We were also disappointed with the touchpad. The smooth surface was reasonably accurate and responsive when we were navigating the desktop, and we had no trouble performing multitouch gestures. However, we’d prefer larger buttons, as the touchpad’s small size made it feel cramped and fiddly to use.

As for battery life, the S1185 lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes in our light use test with the screen set to half brightness. We expect Windows 8 tablets to last at least five hours.

The Gigabyte S1185 is a competent Windows 8 tablet, and the included keyboard dock means you can, to a certain extent, use it as a laptop, but we suspect its price and divisive looks will deter potential customers. At £876, the S1185 is also expensive. The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is the superior tablet in almost every way, even when you factor in the additional cost of a keyboard, and is a better buy.