# Zebra ET51 Windows Tablets

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition81\
**Created:** [April 19, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595 "2022-04-19T15:11:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Kelly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/joe_kelly/32/30990_2.png) [@Joe\_Kelly](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Joe_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595/1 "2022-04-19T15:11:14Z")

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Has anyone had any success with using a Zebra ET51 windows tablets with the 2D area image scanner for reading barcodes? We’re looking into them as an option to run Perspective apps and have a better barcode scanner than just a basic camera (our barcodes are pretty dense and it’s hard to capture them with a standard iPad camera sometimes).

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595/2 "2022-04-19T15:19:02Z")

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If it’s Windows based, you won’t have a ‘native’ app experience; currently Perspective Workstation doesn’t expose any hooks to native device camera, filesystem, etc.

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Kelly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/joe_kelly/32/30990_2.png) [@Joe\_Kelly](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Joe_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595/3 "2022-04-19T15:30:45Z")

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OK, so I assume I would have to do Vision then, in that case?

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595/4 "2022-04-19T15:45:28Z")

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Either would _work_ (it looks like the device runs full-fledged 64-bit Windows), but you’ll currently have an easier time interacting with the actual device in Vision, yes.

In both Vision and Perspective, a barcode scan that comes through via the keyboard should ‘just work’ - the difficulty would only be if you’re trying to ‘pop up’ the camera to scan a barcode like you can on e.g. a smartphone. If there’s a dedicated physical scanning device with a hardware trigger, I would expect Vision or Perspective to be fine w.r.t barcode scanning.

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Kelly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/joe_kelly/32/30990_2.png) [@Joe\_Kelly](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Joe_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/zebra-et51-windows-tablets/58595/5 "2022-04-19T17:12:50Z")

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Ya, that’s the only thing I don’t know for sure and was hoping someone on here had experience with these devices specifically before we purchased. Thanks for the help!