Kyle Russell/Business InsiderAfter nearly a year-and-a-half on the market, Microsoft and Windows 8 device manufacturers still haven't found the secret sauce of software and hardware needed to make a device as nice to use as an iPad.
I've been using Lenovo's $399 ThinkPad 8 tablet for nearly two weeks now.
For the same price as an iPad Mini with Retina, it seemingly offers the convenience of an 8-inch tablet with the horsepower and app selection of a laptop.
Though I've been able to do things that I never could have accomplished on my iPad, there are simply too many little oddities throughout Windows 8 and its hardware that make it unwieldy as a tablet and less useful than a real laptop.