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Acer unveils W510 and W700 Windows 8 tablets

by Mark Tyson on 4 June 2012, 10:23

Tags: Acer (TPE:2353), Windows 8

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On the eve of the Computex, Taipei  ICT exhibition Acer has released some details of its two new tablets which are going to be on show. The Acer ICONIA W510 and ICONIA W700 will be Acer’s Windows 8 tablet pioneers.

The ICONIA W510 isn’t very far removed from the current Acer Windows 7 tablet the ICONIA TAB W500. The model number hints at an evolutionary change rather than a revolution. Similar in the way the Android based ASUS Transformer series works, the ICONIA W510 comes with an attachable keyboard which converts the tablet into a clamshell notebook or flips back to become a presentation device. Acer calls this flexibility “tri-mode, allowing users to touch, type and view”. The keyboard / dock also has its own battery and will extend the battery life of the whole unit up to 18 hours. The ICONIA W510 has a 10.1” IPS touchscreen.

The ICONIA W700 is an 11.6” full HD screen tablet with “Dolby® Home Theater® for multimedia pleasure”. Acer says this is a Windows 8 tablet designed for optimum performance. The ICONIA W700 has a multipurpose cradle allowing the tablet to be connected in landscape or portrait orientations and at angles optimised for viewing or for touch interaction. Users will have to source their own keyboard for use with the W700 as there isn’t one as part of the package. The price of the ICONIA W700 is set to be in the range of $800 to $1000 USD.

The press release doesn’t offer many more details for these two tablets but Pocket-Lint says the W700 has three USB 3.0 ports, Thunderbolt and micro HDMI. PC World say both new tablets are Intel based so they will be able to run full Windows 8, not limited to Metro apps like the tablets using ARM processors. In particular the ICONIA W510 uses an Intel x86 SoC design. As the “performance” model we can expect the ICONIA W700 to be powered by an Intel Core processor. More details and specifications will be forthcoming when Acer shows off the tablets at Computex this week.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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This sounds like exactly what I was hoping for - x86 based so you are not limited to metro, and a keyboard dock to allow you to use it as a computer and a tablet..this is what Windows 8 was (or should have been) made for - rather than very restrictive ARM only tablets which limit you to metro apps.
but at what price? I'd guess these are going to be in the £500 - £600 pound range…are you still interested?
3dcandy
but at what price? I'd guess these are going to be in the £500 - £600 pound range…are you still interested?

Should be more expensive than that - around the £800-£1000 for entry level models, as I would want/require a decent CPU (core i5 2ghz minimum) as it would be an ultrabook/tablet.

My ideal machine is an 11" macbook air that can become a tablet or ultra book depending on current needs, and I would be happy up to around £1400 for a top spec model.

if they try to get away with low spec cheap versions to try and compete with the iPads of this world they will be making a massive mistake - this kind of device needs to be a laptop first, tablet second imo.
Too expensive me thinks. Every windows 8 license is likely to add at least £100 pound to the price tag over the likes of android at least.
saltyzip
Too expensive me thinks. Every windows 8 license is likely to add at least £100 pound to the price tag over the likes of android at least.

These are full Win 8 OS's on these devices, its like the Mac Book Air but with the ability to be a tablet.

Win 8 RT is the same level as Android and iOS products, the products in this article are mainly aimed at business and power users than the average household consumer.