With the new Dell Venue 8 Pro, we're finally seeing a full-blown Windows 8.1 tablet for the masses. And when I mean the masses, I don't mean people willing to pay $900 and up for a tablet, or $1,000 and up for a combo tablet-ultrabook device. I mean people who can afford $300 for a well-made 8-in. device with a very good screen, a surprisingly powerful processor, and Office as part of the package.

The Venue 8 Pro is thin, light and feels right in your hand. And even though the screen is smaller than the 10.6-in. display that comes with Microsoft's Surface Pro 2, you don't feel like you're missing much when you run Windows 8 apps (that is, apps previously called Metro apps and now sometimes called Modern apps or Windows Store apps).