The bigger problem with using the W700 as a traditional PC productivity machine lies in the rendering of the Windows desktop. A resolution of 1920 by 1080 on an 11.6-inch screen makes for tiny fonts, icons, and scroll bars. And because all of these interface elements were so small, I had trouble seeing text in the URL field of Internet Explorer, for example. Likewise, using touch gestures to collapse and exit out of windows--or, for that matter, just navigating around the basic Windows experience that I've been using since Windows 3.1--was a challenge.

Make no mistake: The screen resolution is great when the W700 is in tablet mode, with Windows 8 optimized for that size. But using the tablet in its cradled desktop mode was nowhere near as easy or as comfortable as working with, say, a 14-inch, 1366 by 768 Ultrabook.

Would I use the W700 as my main productivity machine when traveling? Probably not. It's productivity prowess blows away the iPad or Android tablet competition, if only because this machine gives you a full version of Windows. But I suspect that other upcoming Windows 8 devices will offer more elegant compromises between the tablet and desktop sides of Microsoft's new split-personality OS. We'll see. We'll have to test many other Windows 8 devices before we'll know the W700's rightful place in the Windows 8 tablet firmament.

I definitely appreciated Acer's bundled-in keyboard. It didn't reek of high-end build quality, but it was more comfortable to use than a traditional laptop keyboard, since I didn't have to negotiate my hand over a trackpad area, and I could adjust the keyboard's distance from the screen to my heart's content. I only wish that Acer had included a mouse as well. During desktop use, I found myself relying on a mixture of touch and mouse control--touch to scroll through documents and to move windows around, and the trusty mouse from my desktop machine for cursor placement and text selection.