I did a little exploring, most notably in the XDA forums and it seems that they have some stuff for the Ares 8, but haven’t quite got a simple, reliable way to deal with the Ares 11 yet.

Personally, I think that a XDA would probably have that sort of information first if it were available, so I’m going to assume from what I’ve read that it’s still “in progress” and would advise against messing around with it too much for the moment. I’ve rooted and flashed a few Android devices before and I find that even the methods that are tested and proven to work are hairy enough that I feel that trying unproven methods is nothing that a novice should even try. Your caution is warranted.

I notice that CyanogenMod doesn’t even have unofficial ports for any of the Nextbook Ares line… odd…

I would strongly advise you to return it before your 15 days are up and buy a more well known Tab like a Samsung Galaxy or a Google Nexus, just to name two off the top of my head.

Why do I say this? Because @jerv is one of the more experienced and knowledgeable computer gurus here at Fluther and his advice to not attempt rooting this model by ypurself is sound. If even he couldn’t find a reliable method to root your device then its likely that one does not exist yet.

And I’m sure you don’t want to brick the thing and end up with a very expensive paperweight.

Buy a more well known Tab for which a tried and true version of Cyanagen Mod has already been developed.

If for some reason the two I mentioned aren’t to your liking then I’m sure that @jerv or others reading this Q can offer suggestions.

So just get the same tabs as everyone else so there is no need to root different devices? That’s silly then nothing would ever get done

@ninjaclown The more popular a device is, the more likely it is that there will be people with the skills to make a fully-functional ROM and the tools./methods to put it on there. That is why you see so many things for Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC, Kindle, Nook, Nexus, Huawei, and others that are actually popular amongst enthusiasts. Conversely, the less popular something is, the fewer people with the required skills will be trying to root and flash it.

That said, there are some non-mainstream pieces of hardware that are popular amongst enthusiasts, usually due to having great performance for the dollar and/or being easy to work on. Why do you think my Nook Color was so easy to get CyanogenMod on? While many were spending $300–500 for a 7” tablet, enough tech-geeks saw a comparably-specced tablet for $99 and went to work making bootloaders and ROMs for Nooks and Kindles.

But here is where NextBook fails compared to B&N or Amazon; they may make a less expensive product, but at a higher cost in performance and build quality. Meanwhile Nooks and Kindles are solidly built products with specs that compare favorably to the current generation of smartphones, and they are sold either at slim margins or at a loss in the hopes to make it up on the other end through their respective marketplaces. Nextbook doesn’t have that separate revenue source as they are solely a hardware company, so they cut more corners to the point where enthusiasts would be hard pressed to be interested at any price. And with that lack of interest comes a lack of dev talent making the tools for the less-than-wizardly tech-geeks to root/flash a device.