Lenovo Miix 3 8 Tablet Review

The touchscreen supports input of up to ten fingers. Although rarely more than two - or even three - fingers are used, it is still unusual for this price range to include such a multi-touch display. Lenovo's better model, the Yoga Tablet 2 8, accepts no more than up to five fingers simultaneously. Nevertheless, this is no real drawback. Controlling Windows 8 with your fingers works flawlessly and intuitively on the Miix. Common multi-touch gestures are executed instantaneously.

Other input devices such as the mouse or keyboard can be coupled wirelessly via Bluetooth. Lenovo has dispensed with a stylus for the Miix. However, Dell proves that this does not have to be missing in low-priced 8-inch tablets with the Venue 8 Pro. Admittedly, the Dell tablet costs almost 100 Euros (~$112) more.

A resolution of 1024x768 pixels is associated more with outdated CRT displays. Lenovo relies on the 4:3 format this time, while all other tablets with 8 inches offer at least 1280x800 pixels in the 16:10 format - even the predecessor, the Miix 2 8 used this resolution.

The same goes for the measured brightness. With a value of slightly below 300 cd/m² the Miix lags behind in comparison to its predecessor and the competition. The average brightness is a meager 289 cd/m², which makes the device only just sufficient for outdoor use. This would not be the case if the display was marginally darker. After all, the IPS display is known for its viewing angle stability.

The tablet's power is sufficient for simple desktop applications. Whether office tasks or browsing the web - the Atom processor indicates no performance losses at all. The 2 GB of main memory as well as the 32 GB of mass memory of the eMMC module are also impressive. Currently it would be foolish to expect more from an 8-inch tablet in this price range.

Even the more expensive competition is not necessarily equipped with much more powerful hardware. On the contrary: The similarly priced Asus VivoTab 8  offers only 1 GB of RAM, which is somewhat meager even for a budget tablet.

Just like many other low-cost Windows tablets, the Miix comes with an Intel Atom processor,  the Intel Atom Z3735F. This is a frugal quad-core SoC with a base speed of more than 1.3 GHz that can reach up to 1.8 GHz under load. While idling, the speed is limited to about 500 MHz.

Comparing the Cinebench results shows that even more expensive 8-inch tablets with slightly better Atom CPUs cannot offer much higher processor power. In the Single-thread benchmark, the differences are in the single-digit percentage range. Furthermore, even in the benchmarks with multi cores, the gap is never larger than 15%. Probably other aspects of the equipment are accountable for the difference in price.

As mentioned before, the hardware satisfies the needs of the end user. PCMark 7's benchmark result of the overall performance proves that there are hardly any performance gaps between the Miix and its competition. This comes as no surprise since all models are equipped with a 32 GB eMMC flash memory and 2 GB of main memory. As already mentioned, the Asus VivoTab 8 is the only one with a poor 1 GB of RAM. Unfortunately, since we do not have a PCMark 7 benchmark result for this tablet, we cannot use it for comparison.

An eMMC module with a capacity of 32 GB serves as storage. The Lenovo Miix 3 8 uses Samsung's MBG4GC model. When compared to its competitors, the read and write speeds of the flash memory are average.

That an Intel Atom does not offer any graphics performance was obvious from the outset. The internal graphics unit of the chip, the Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail), can only satisfy low expectations - such as smoothly displaying YouTube clips in Full HD. You should not even consider tasks such as elaborate 3D rendering or hitch-free video editing. This is not the purpose of tablets anyway - especially not in this price range. Comparing the 3D Mark benchmark results reveals the same as the previous benchmarks: The performance gaps compared to other tablets with Atom processor (and same graphics unit) is negligibly small.

Although in principle Windows games can be installed on the tablet, the hardware as well as the missing mouse and keyboard considerably diminish the gaming experience. This tablet with its graphics unit is anything but ready for games. The measured fps values of several games, which can be seen in the section of the graphics unit, are more than enough proof of that. Nevertheless, we have done one more test for all those that want to try it out with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

“StarCraft 2” offers the native resolution of the tablet. The five-year old strategy classic can be played quite well with low details at around 40 to 50 fps.

The small power dissipation of the frugal Intel Atom allows passive cooling. Therefore, the tablet does not contain any components that might make noises and the tablet is pleasantly silent.

The speakers of the Lenovo Miix 3 8 produce an audible and clear sound. Extensive demands should not be expected from a tablet with a price tag of 169 Euros (~$189) and a mono speaker. The sound is thin and comes from one side of the device. Although short videos or calls are still bearable, it is recommended to connect external speakers or headphones for long movies.

Thanks to the modest Intel Atom, the power consumption of the tablet is relatively low. While idling, it needs less than 1 watt. The Asus VivoTab 8 requires up to 2.4 watts - the Lenovo Yoga 2 8 up to 3.4 watts. Under load, however, the Miix 3 8 consumes up to 10.9 watts, which is on par with the competitors.

We determined the battery runtime with the practical WLAN test and the Battery Eater tool. The Miix 3 8 lasts almost 6 hours without power supply. As mentioned at the beginning of the review, the battery of 15 Wh is somewhat smaller than that of the predecessor, which had a capacity of 17 Wh, and therefore ran slightly longer in the WLAN test.

By contrast, the Asus VivoTab 8  equipped with an identically sized battery, achieves a runtime of slightly more than 5 hours. The 18 Wh battery of the Dell Venue 8 Pro lasts just slightly more than 6 hours. The same goes for the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 8 with an even larger battery.