back to article Win8 tablets may cost MORE than iPads – AND LAPTOPS

Microsoft has predicted that Windows 8 and Windows RT will usher in a new era of touch-based computing, but if leaked pricing from Asus is anything to go by, customers will have to pay a pretty penny to share in Redmond's vision. Although PC makers have been busy readying a range of tablets and laptops with touchscreens in …

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          1. BongoJoe
            Black Helicopters

            Re: Sad thing is, I wouldn't bet on it

            I read somewhere that one of these Swiss Check-In Peg-Out clincs have the users click on a button in an Access application which then gives them that special injection.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Joke

              Re: Sad thing is, I wouldn't bet on it

              I read somewhere that one of these Swiss Check-In Peg-Out clincs have the users click on a button in an Access application which then gives them that special injection.

              Then Microsoft Surface is a game changer. It gives a whole new meaning to suicide with tablets....

  1. Raz
    FAIL

    I smell fail

    I was waiting for Windows 8 to see if the tablet prices will go down, and maybe contemplating a Windows 8 (RT) tablet. Oh noes, I won't pay more for Windows though. It seems that the Transformer Infinity will be my next tablet, if no one comes with a 12" tablet reasonably priced.

    Microsoft should understand that if they want to compete in tablets, they are the underdog, and they have nothing that would entice me to switch from Android except price.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: I smell fail

      At launch manufacturers will have no idea what they can sell for. You can expect prices to plummet once more than one company has devices.

      1. Raz

        Re: I smell fail @JDX Posted Tuesday 18th September 2012 20:56 GMT JDX

        I know, but in my experience won't happen immediately after launch. I have a feeling I WILL get a Windows 8 tablet, just not this year. I missed the Touchpad firesale, but I just got a BlackBerry Playbook 32GB for $120. I would not have paid full price on it, but at that price I found it very attractive.

      2. Alex Schneider

        Re: I smell fail

        Precisely! Just look at the HP Touchpad.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I smell fail

        Prices may or may not plummet, but they will definitely collect dust in stores.

        This will end badly, like Microsoft KIN.

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: I smell fail

      None of these devices are tablets. They're more powerful ultrabooks with touchscreens.

      1. Tim Parker

        Re: I smell fail

        "None of these devices are tablets."

        At least two of them are... with optional docks. What the other one is meant to be seems to be something none of us are entirely sure about.. perhaps the person on the other side of the lid can see where the mines are..... who knows.

        "They're more powerful ultrabooks with touchscreens."

        Yeah - whatever - or keyboards with grubby televisions on. Apart from the fact that in a nit-picky sense one of them can't be an Ultrabook (in the Intel sense) it's really just marketing and/or personal point of view. If they float your boat, then it doesn't really matter what they're called IMO.

      2. Tom 35

        Re: I smell fail

        Ultrabook? With an atom? Ha Ha Ha, good one. More like a netbook with a touch screen.

  2. Fuzz

    Taichi

    Why would I want to pay for two 1920x1080 panels when I can only use one at any one time?

    Also I had a chance to play with a Samsung 10.1" Windows RT tablet and it's too big. The stupid 16:9 aspect makes the tablet far too wide to hold comfortably in one hand when using landscape and it's too tall in portrait mode.

    1. frank ly

      Re: Taichi

      Apart from jokes about 'Tai Chi' and martial arts, note that it says " ... easy to share files between two users".

      I think the selling point is that when you are using it as a laptop, your Tai Chi partner can sit on the other side of the desk and use the tablet screen. With headphones, you can play independent videos or perhaps play Battleships, etc. (I'm using my imagination here and it's getting weird.)

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Taichi

        Yeah, in education or client presentations would seem to be areas where this might be used. It does seem rather a waste of an IPS panel for anything else, though I imagine it could be made to ape that Ambi-light trickery that Phillips TVs have.

        I prefer the look the Lenovo solution - have a conventional-looking laptop, but with hinges that allow the screen to be facing up whilst the keyboard faces down (presumably with a mechanism to disable the keyboard whilst it is in this position)

  3. solidsoup

    Is Balmer married? What about Meg Whitman? They'd make a nice couple.

    As to Asus vs MS, it actually doesn't matter. Asus wouldn't be pricing their tablets that way if MS price (which I'm sure they're aware of) wasn't in the ballpark. Conversely, MS wouldn't significantly underprice the OEMs they hope to license Win8 to. At best, Microsoft tablet will be $100 cheaper. Stick a fork in it boys, Windows 8 on tablets is done.

  4. Levente Szileszky
    Devil

    Hahaha, the angry fat chair-throwin beancounter finally lost it..

    ...I knew it, I totally knew it - his comments were way off the chart for months now - and here is the proof, the Ballmerian insanity in its full extent.

    Buhbye, you and your golden boys, no one will miss you when you get booted after W8 royally flopped - finally MS will have a chance to innovate again instead of being the slow-moving, forever 'mee-too' monster.

    1. Arctic fox
      Headmaster

      Re: Hahaha, the angry fat chair-throwin beancounter finally lost it..

      Actually "the angry fat chair-throwin beancounter" pegged “sweet spot” prices at $300 to $800 in that interview recently did he not? I'd say that Asus' prices here (if this leak is genuine) don't exactly fall within that, hmm?

  5. Matt_payne666

    Apple has the cool factor... Irrespective of what the machine does, the current tablet punter has to be wooed... And even as a Microsoft advocate, I'd buy an iPad over a windows 8 tablet if they are the same cost... (oddly my iPhone is being replaced with a win 8 phone!)

    I really wanted the win 8 tab to revolutionise abd shake up tablet computing, but I feel as though it's going to be a bit of a damp squip...

  6. banjomike
    Stop

    One advantage of ANYTHING else, No Windows 8

    That would pursuade me to buy an Android, win Win 7 portable. Not Apple.

  7. Tom 35

    Asus Vivo Tab

    Oh, a netbook with a touch screen for a grand! Where do I line up!

    1. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Re: Asus Vivo Tab

      Behind all the Apple fans already used to queueing for such 'bargains'

  8. Paul Shirley

    can I say 'contractual obligation' release?

    ...I think I can. MS fought hard to keep their super secret patent shakedown agreements out of the public record in recent court cases... harder than if they just wanted the numbers kept secret, redacting would achieve that.

    I've suggested many times those deals oblige various OEMs to ship Microsoft product, be it WP7, WP8 or Win8. Obliged to ship if they want to keep the Android tax affordable... but apparently also free to price to *not sell* ;)

    There is indeed piss taking going on but it's MS getting wet.

  9. Dana W
    Happy

    Superb!

    I love it, it just keeps getting funnier and funnier!

  10. Mikel

    Three Nexus 7's

    I love the pricing on these. This looks like a grand plan. They should be able to sell hundreds.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Three Nexus 7's

      But, but, but they'll have Office and clippy in them...

    2. John Bailey

      Re: Three Nexus 7's

      No... Surely dozens..

      Just think.. Instant exclusivity.. Take that Apple..

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll comment on the pricing

    When I see it for real on manufacturer's website or ebuyer.

  12. robin thakur 1
    FAIL

    Win8

    I'm clearly not the only one now thinking that the launch of Windows 8 will be the disaster that many thought it would be, the number of people on here saying "Ballmer/Microsoft are smoking crack" is quite high. Its the hardwate OEM's and PC industry I really feel sorry for as a great many people depend on Microsoft for Windows to be the draw that it is and MS are just gambling with their futures. They still seem to be living in a world where Windows leads the industry. Granted, Windows 7 was very good, but 8 needs all this kit just to be fully usable. Without it, it does kind of work but not as well as windows 7. On a desktop, my days are filled with the joy of trying to click the corner top right on screen 1 to shut down the computer only to scroll into the top-left corner of screen 2, or trying to avoid the many tablet optimised default apps which exist along with their desktop counterparts. That they are forcing this upon us all (even business) simply to make deva more likely to develop for the platform smacks of desperation. Why does Metro need to be on a server exactly? Most days I just boot into Mountain Lion because at least that integrates properly with all my other devices and I cloud etc. And it doesn't much about with the desktop in ways I can't just opt not to use.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I got three words for you!

    Dead. On. Arrival.

    This is what happens when you let Steve Ballmer overstay his usefulness, which had already expired in the early 2000s.

  14. This post has been deleted by its author

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    DOH!

    Lets examine:

    1. A brand that simply isn't cool - Microsoft. It never has been cool. Rule out those who purchase based on coolness.

    2. An unquantified amount of applications on launch. Given that Apple & Android have a gazillion apps to please even the most discerning punter and that Amazon have their *cough* cash register tablet - where does that leave Microsofts App offerings?

    3. An identity crisis - is it a netbook, is it a tablet?

    4. A hefty price tag. Those that can afford this price will go iPad. Those that can't, will go Android - and both choices, now we have the likes of the Nexus 7 and the new Kindle Fire - are excellent.

    5. A confusing OS choice - once again, microsoft 'just haven't got it' - not one OS for the tablet device, but rather, two. So, as well as a fragmented market due to a plethora of devices that will be running windows 8, we also have different flavours of windows 8 = consumer confusion.

    Ultimately, apps and price will determine the fate of windows 8 tablets, for it's certain they'll be throwing massive amounts of marketing muscle at this, not to mention the massive global chain of retailers praying for a boost to lagging sales.

  16. bigiain

    Are these after the ipad?

    These units are really going up against laptops - not directly against ipads, nexus etc.. Even the lower priced unit has a full keyboard and windowed OS so is still probably going up against laptops more than directly against tablets. If you stripped out the keyboard etc on the lower end model, then you start to get the costs down to compete with the ipad. however, that doesn't look like the aim with this particular range of units.

    I would see these as a replacement for my laptop, with the added bonus that i can detach the keyboard and use it as a tablet, removing the need to fork out an extra £400 for a separate ipad, nexus etc. These devices are aimed as business users, where a tablet on its own is no use - you need a laptop, with a windowed OS for any serious work, cutting and pasting between multiple applications.

    I used an HP TC4400 tablet for years - it was great - docked it was a full desktop PC (with dual monitors), un-docked, it was a small laptop, then folded into tablet mode, it was great for taking handwritten notes, noting down information while walking about or reading documents on the train or other locations where i didn't have a full table to use it in laptop mode. It was only the weight and lack of support for full touch in the OS that prevented it being an ipad-like tablet - these look to address those issues. I had a TC1100 for a while - too underpowered - shame they never took that form factor further.

    1. Tom 35

      Re: Are these after the ipad?

      No, the low end model has an Optional Keyboard.

      Windows RT is not "Windows". There is no domain, no Outlook...

      You could buy a laptop with higher specifications and real windows for much less.

  17. Tom 7

    Sensible really

    you want to stop freetards running linux on them and showing you up and think UEFI wont work forever?

    Price them too high. That'll show them!

    So now we have an expensive tablet that will never be cool and, after a few weeks in the hands of company accountants who discover that the office package wont run their old stuff properly...

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll write the same thing that I wrote about HP's WebOS, what I wrote didn't matter to HP, but in the end they did open source the OS. So I am fine with the end result.

    What have made Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office the 2 most used products in the digital world is not the quality of the product nor the stability of them. Heck, Microsoft Windows have been known for it crashes and their infamous BSOD, yet it was still used everywhere and was -still is- with a large slice of the market. The reason for this was: piracy.

    Piracy is what made both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office reach where they have reached now. If people had to pay for either, then I honestly doubt that either would have reached this market share. More importantly, piracy have helped sell both products. Since everyone was using them, people tended to ask for them and buy them when buying a new PC. Microsoft might have lost money when people pirated their products, but they gain far more when their products became the standard in each office, class and home.

    Currently Apple doesn't pay for the software since they make the device and software (which is based on *BSD). If people are paying for the pre-installed OS, then Apple is keeping its mouth shut about the financials, or at the very least the price is too small to matter. Android also doesn't cost the OEMs anything, and the users can upgrade for free (when the OEM decide that they are worthy of the upgrade).

    Right now Microsoft Windows have no market share in the tablet, so I believe that Microsoft should concentrate more on taking a piece of the market share instead of making profit. I even recall reading an article which said that even if Windows 8 on the phone should tank, it won't effect Microsoft's bottom line. If this is true, then embrace piracy legitimate sibling: free software.

    The free software doesn't need to include Office, just Windows RT. And it doesn't need to be indefinite, just for the first 3 to 6 months, after which your product would have established itself and is ready to depend on word-of-mouth to spread itself. Although it would help if you reduce the price of Office during that period as well.

    sorry for the long post, but this is my thoughts regarding Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office current success: it was piracy that made it spread, not the quality of the product!

  19. Tony Paulazzo

    >most have been tight-lipped about pricing<

    Heh, now we know why.

    >Windows tablets will be hot sellers because you can run Microsoft Office on them<

    So no worries from the anti competition agencies then? Also the RT versions don't include Outlook so might as well use QuickOffice (that Google just bought), works across ios and android, keeps formatting, opens and saves as Office 2003 thru' 2010, I use it on a daily basis on my iPad.

    As for the full windows tabs I think people were expecting about $1000, but on Intel i7 chips, not Atoms, I know nothing about Atoms, will they run Photoshop CS6 fast?Civ5? If not, then pointless - I do recall Archos releasing a Windows tab a few years ago running Atom, it could barely run Windows Starter, and yea, I'm sure they're better now, but Intel i7 better?

    1. kb
      WTF?

      Atom stinks

      Sorry Tony but Atom runs worse than pretty much any chip out there, AMD's low end E350s curbstomp it and that's the chip they put in $300 netbooks, so you can imagine how weak this chip is.

      Which is why I'm sitting here literally gobsmacked..an Atom? On a system THAT high? Are they insane? You can get an AMD quad or Intel i3 laptop for less than half that that would just beat the living heck out of that chip!

      Anybody who pays THAT much for an Atom system should at least get a free CAT scan, just as a public service to make sure they don't have a tumor or brain injury!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's too expensive but at least it's not android.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Am I the only one....

    ...that thinks like the text has been edited using a photo editing package, i.e. the text has been resized and has a slightly different colour background (hard to see on this image).

    1. badmonkey
      Meh

      Re: Am I the only one....

      Don't see why, it's just JPEG artifacting on the Reg version. If you look at the original at the link

      http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/story/70/00/004378/asusroadmap-watermarked.jpg

      it looks like a legit screenshot of a PowerPoint slide, amusing spelling correction squiggles n all.

      Presumably ZDNet did edit the slide to stick their watermark in there.

  22. Herby

    Maybe...

    If Microsoft attempts to sell these 'surface' tablets with flappy keyboards, one can repurpose them to be Linux tablets.

    1. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Re: Maybe...

      Maybe but who would want to buy a premium tablet and then downgrade it to an insecure OS with an order of magnitude more security vulnerabilities? Just look at the amount of nasties on Android...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Maybe...

        "Just look at the amount of nasties on Android..."

        Just look at the amount of nasties on Windows - Fixed it for you

        1. RICHTO
          Mushroom

          Re: Maybe...

          Just look at the amount of nasties on Windows Phone (zero) - Fixed it for you

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Maybe...

            Bound to be easy but there's no market !

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Maybe...

            "Just look at the amount of nasties on Windows Phone (zero) - Fixed it for you"

            Microsoft make a phone OS ? - bet it's crap

  23. Alex Walsh

    Is this the same as the MS in-house RT that's rumoured to be around $199?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Zero for two

    InHell can't buy Ultrabook sales and Microsucks can't sell Win8 craplets for $599. Is this a surprise to anyone with a clue?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    All Together Now, 1, 2, 3.......

    67+ comments plus the obligatory MS bashing about what may I ask?

    A bit of possibly, maybe, not confirmed, hearsay.

    Calm down and wait till we get some actual information, specs and pricing. It's only just over a month till we know. Then we can discuss reality, not speculative, "Psst, someone has heard that someone else may have seen............." schoolyard whispers.

    1. John Bailey

      Re: All Together Now, 1, 2, 3.......

      Well.. not so much bashing, as pointing and laughing.

      Come on.. It's funny. Take a good look at what MS have created. An expensive white elephant. All it needs if for Uncle Fester to come on stage and get excited abotu squirting apps to each other.

    2. Tom 7

      Re: All Together Now, 1, 2, 3.......

      Its not your first visit to the register - what else do you think the comment threads are for?

      And half the articles...

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