Acer Iconia W4

What is the Acer Iconia W4?

The amazing Acer Iconia W4 is an 8-inch and Windows 8.1 tablet that joins the not so famous Toshiba Encore as well as the more extraordinary Dell Venue Pro 8 as somewhere you can get each and every benefit of a full Windows PC type access to Microsoft Office as well as the ability to download applications of the desktop all in a quite smaller and compact body.

The Acer Iconia W4 Design

The W4 is thinner and lighter than its previous model, but not by that much, to be honest. It measures in at 10.75mm thick as well as weighing in at 415g. It’s not as lean as the 7.9-inch iPad Mini 2 Retina, but it’s reasonably comfortable and light to use in just one hand for lengthier periods.

Now, there exists a silver grey shade that runs through the entire body while the bezel’s bottom is denser to put up a physical Windows button. It's handy, but it doesn’t really do the Iconia W4 any favors beautifully. Also, when the tablet’s in your hand and in landscape mode, it feels a bit weird to grip it.

Connections and buttons contain micro HDMI and a volume rocker so that it can be connected to a bigger display as well as a Micro SD card slot that's placed over on the edge’s right. On the top is the on and off button while the headphone jack, two speakers, and micro USB sit on the edge’s bottom.

Just like the Venue Pro 8, the microUSB works like a USB to connect other peripherals, and unlike the tablet of Dell, an adapter of microUSB is contained within the box. Furthermore, the W4 has a Bluetooth 4.0, so it's well-suited with the official accessories of Acer and should work fine with third-party ones too.

The W4 is definitely lovelier looking than the Encore, but then again it's not very different enough from the W3. It makes it an extremely plain boring tablet to look at.

 

Acer Iconia W4’s Screen and Sound Quality

The Acer Iconia W4 has a display of an 8-inch 1, 280 x 800 IPS along with a 16:10 feature ratio that matches the Encore and Venue Pro 8. The W4 is quite easier to view outdoors. Under ceiling lights, there are still a few problems with glare on the screen.

There exists a nominal pixel density rise from 186ppi to 189ppi and this basically means it doesn’t have the excellent clarity you can imagine on small tablets such as the Kindle Fire HDX 7, Nexus 7, or the iPad Minis.

The screen responsiveness isn’t great either. It supports 10-point multi touch and that is completely acceptable for a screen of this size. While it usually registers zooming and swipes, there were these moments where people had to annoyingly tap the screen twice so that the apps could be opened.

Meanwhile, the speakers aren't anything great. They aren’t so powerful. While it doesn't seriously suffer with top volume and distortion, it doesn’t have the fullness to make it an amazing place to watch movies. It would be better if it is plugged in a decent pair of headphones where the audio sounds clearer.

Operating System
Operating System	Windows 8.1
Processor & Chipset
Processor Manufacturer	Intel
Processor Type	Atom
Processor Model	Z3740
Processor Speed	1.33 GHz
Processor Core	Quad-core (4 Core)
Memory
Standard Memory	2 GB
Memory Technology	LPDDR3
Memory Card Reader	Yes
Memory Card Supported	microSD microSD Extended Capacity (microSDXC)
Storage
Flash Memory Capacity	32 GB
Display & Graphics
Screen Size	8"
Display Screen Type	Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Screen Mode	WXGA
Screen Resolution	1280 x 800
Backlight Technology	LED
Touchscreen	Yes
Multi-touch Screen	Yes
Graphics Controller Manufacturer	Intel
Graphics Controller Model	HD Graphics
Graphics Memory Technology	LPDDR3
Graphics Memory Accessibility	Shared
Network & Communication
Wireless LAN	Yes
Wireless LAN Manufacturer	AzureWave
Wireless LAN Model	AW-AH691
Wireless LAN Standard	IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	Yes
Interfaces/Ports
HDMI	Yes
Input Devices
Keyboard Type	Touchscreen Keyboard
Built-in Devices
Microphone	Yes
Software
Operating System	Windows 8.1
Operating System Architecture	32-bit
Battery Information
Number of Cells	2-cell
Battery Chemistry	Lithium Polymer (Li-Polymer)
Battery Capacity	4960 mAh
Maximum Video Battery Time	8 Hour
Power Description
Maximum Power Supply Wattage	10 W
Physical Characteristics
Height	0.4"
Width	5.3"
Depth	8.6"
Weight (Approximate)	14.64 oz
Miscellaneous
Additional Information	Wireless LAN: Acer Nplify 802.11a/b/g/n
Warranty
Warranty	Limited Warranty agreement applies.

3D Printing – an Overview

3D printing is a fascinating technology which lets you produce three-dimensional objects from a virtual design created in your computer.  Contrary to a traditional printing machine, a 3-D printer does not give you a fully assembled object coming out straight from the machine. Instead, the object is created from the required material – such as plastic – by assembling layers after layers. This process is also termed as additive manufacturing.

The Printing Process

The process of 3-D printing begins with a computer. A Computer Aided Design (CAD) software program is required for the creation of the design. Once a CAD file has been created, this step is followed by uploading the file to a 3-D modeling application. A 3-D scanner can also be used for this purpose which makes a three-dimensional digital copy of the design and then loads it to a 3-D modeling application program.

The next step involves the printing of the previously created 3-D digital copy. The 3-D modeling software performs the process of slicing up the object’s design into two-dimensional images which are thin layers. These layers are horizontal cross-sections of the object to be created. The 3-D printer analyses these two-dimensional images or layers and proceeds to flawlessly blend them together in order to create one solid object. As a result, the final object shows no noticeable signs of different layers joined together.

3D Printing Techniques

There are six different techniques which are being used for the purpose of manufacturing objects through the process of 3-D printing. These methods are:

• Stereolithpgraphy

This is one of the oldest 3D printing techniques. It involves the raw material being taken in the form of a liquid. The polymerized layers of liquids are solidified by UV light beams.

• Selective Laser Sintering

The starting raw material used to manufacture objects by Selective Laser Sintering technique may be plastic, ceramic, metal or glass. The particles of desired material are fused together by high power laser into a mass. This mass is then shaped into the required object.

• Digital Light Processing

Just like stereolithography, the Digital Light Processing method of 3D printing also begins with liquid raw material. This liquid is hardened little by little through exposure to a beam of light.

• Electronic Beam Melting

This technique is used for creating metal objects. The starting raw material is in the form of powder. The layering process takes place inside a vacuum where the metal powder is solidified through exposure to a beam of electrons. Upon cooling, this powder solidifies and the layers blend together. The resulting solid object is dense and possesses remarkable strength.

• Fused Deposition Modeling

An extrusion nozzle is used in this process which melts the raw material as it comes out. Computer aided controlling helps in moving the nozzle horizontally as well as vertically, upon exiting the nozzle, the material hardens instantly.

• Multi Jet Modeling

This is the fastest form of 3D printing. It involves spreading a layer of resin powder sprayed by colored glue to harden the resin. This technique is useful for colored printing.

3D printing is useful for both commercial as well as personal objectives. The evolving technology is expected to bring more techniques for faster, more economical and more convenient 3D printing in future.

What is 3D Printing?

So, what is 3D printing precisely? 3D printing, in other words, additive manufacturing is a procedure of creating a solid object of three-dimensional of almost any shape from a digital model. Basically, 3D printing is accomplished by means of an additive process and that’s where material’s successive layers are set down in several types of shapes. Also, 3D printing is thought to be different from old-fashioned machining techniques that generally depend on the material’s removal by ways like drilling or cutting.

A 3D printer is an industrial robot which is of a limited type that has the ability of carrying out an additive process under the control of a computer.

Although 3D printing technology has been present ever since the 1980s, it was not till the 2010s that the printers turn out to be extensively accessible commercially.

The very first functioning 3D printer was formed back in 1984 by Systems Corp’s Chuck Hull. Since the 21st century’s beginning, there has been a huge progress in these machines’ sales, and their value has fallen considerably. According to Wohlers Associates, which is a consultancy, the 3D printers market as well as services was valued for $2.2 billion around the world back in 2012, from 2011 up to 29%.

The technology of 3D printing is used for distributed manufacturing and prototyping along with applications in construction (AEC), architecture, industrial design, aerospace, military, automotive, medical and dental industries, engineering, biotech (replacement of human tissue), footwear, fashion, jewellery, education, eyewear, food, geographic information systems, and several other fields.

Several kinds of 3D printers presently exist. Each and every printer type normally uses a different type of material; nevertheless, all these printers work on the same simple technique to print things.

To make a print, the 3D machine reads the design of the printable file of 3D and lays down successive powder, liquid, sheet, or paper material layers to form the model from a sequence of cross sections. These layers that correspond to the essential cross sections from the model of CAD are automatically fused or joined to form the ultimate shape. The technique’s main advantage is its capability to make nearly any geometric feature or shape.

A model’s construction with modern methods can take anywhere from many hours to many days and that depends on the technique used and complexity as well as the model’s size. Additive systems can naturally reduce this time to a couple of hours, even though it varies extensively depending on the kind of machine being in use and the number and size of models being created at the same time.

So, there you go. You’ve now learned what 3D printing is and how it amazingly works. Cool, right? Hope this article helped!