Why I Returned My Nvidia Shield Tablet

[Gumba]

Just to preface this post, I got a lot of flak about 4 weeks ago when I posted a list of issues I was experiencing with this Tablet, but in my case I wished there was something like this before I had purchased the device, cause looking back now, I wouldn't have picked it up in the first place and spent countless hours trying to get it to work how I envisioned it. 

 

With that said, I returned my Shield tablet and picked up an i5 Surface Pro 3 instead. Wasn't happy at all with the Shield Tablet, way too many issues out of the box, felt like it wasn't a finished product. Between the cracking case, shortage of controllers, which are ridiculously overpriced and lack of available covers I was underwhelmed with its release. But most frustratingly I had to buy a hardwired ethernet adapter just to get it to stream games remotely, and even then the latency was so bad that I couldn't play platformers. At the end of the day it felt like a Swiss Army knife with way too many add-ons just to get it to do what I wanted. I totally stand behind Nvidias video cards, have a GTX 780 ti, but this tablet totally missed the mark. After a week of frustrating issues it sat on my end table collecting dust and decided it needed to be returned. I like where Nvidia is heading in this market but more R&D was needed here and it fell short of my expectations. 

 

On the next release I suggest putting in a WiFi card that actually works from more than 10 ft away, a built in on screen controller option with key mapping options, a built in kickstand and a larger screen. Don't put this device into the same market as the Samsung Galaxy tablet, enthusiast gamers like me who are willing to spend in excess of 300 dollars on a video card, or in my case nearly 800 dollars feel this tablet isn't sufficient for what we are trying to do. When I got home with my new Surface Pro 3 I was pleasantly surprised when I loaded up Steam and worked seamlessly when streaming games. The SP3 also allows you to have all those extra features like the ability to use my superior xbox controller and Xpadder software, and the ability to install Steam games right onto the device without the need to stream them when I'm on the go. Do yourself a favor and wait for the next Nvidia Tablet release. Knowing Nvidia and their commitment to excellence, I'm sure they will make some major improvements.

 

Good luck Nvidia on your next release, and I commend Nvidia personally messaging me and trying to resolve my defected unit with a new one, but that ship has sailed and I'm much happier with my SP3. I'll continue buying Nvidia products in the future as the 900 series cards are released but won't be looking at the Shield again anytime soon unless there's some dramatic changes made in the future. Thanks again Nvidia for all your hard work and dedication to putting out innovative products.

[Guest]

Comparing a SP3 and Android tablet isn't a fair comparison.

[EpicAdom]

You were extremely unlucky and got a broken tablet. It happens (not often hopefully). It's not really fair to compare a SP3 to a Shield Tablet though. Theres a huge price gap between them.

[Trik'Stari]

Inb4 AMD fanboys

[Silent_Xaxal]

I want new Shield handheld. Just saying.

[dragantoe]

I want new Shield handheld. Just saying.

I am 99% sure they are waiting until the denver cpu is ready for mass market, when it comes, I'm returning my shield tablet... It's a powerful device, yes, but the overall android experience is far below even a nexus 7. there are too many problems...

[menendez1293]

That isn't really a comparison. I have a SP3 in the house and I just got my Shield Tablet and so far it's been great. They are just used for different tasks. I bought the shield to be a tablet first and to game on the side. Only reason I choose it over the Nexus was for the Tegra K1 and the front facing speakers.

[acerayl]

I have a EVGA Tegra Note 7, and I love it. I got it for the pure purpose to get off of playing games on my phone and get a dedicated tablet. I love using the tablet, but with that being said it is all on getting the device that does what you want it to do. The Note 7 does exactly what I want it to do, and I have moved on to doing social media and office work via Google office products. If I had a Surface I would move office apps to it as I am in the MS Office space, so it would help productivity. 

[bry.yyyy]

he's AMD Fanboy