A user manual for a yet to be released 8-inch Windows tablet has been unearthed upon the official ASUS website. You can download it directly from here. The product is called the ASUS VivoTab Note 8 (M80T) and it runs using the Windows 8.1 OS. The device is expected to emerge shortly, perhaps as part of the range teased a week or so ago by ASUS, for unveiling at the CES.
An interesting facet of the new ASUS VivoTab Note 8 is that it will come with a dedicated stylus as standard (labelled as [8] in the diagram above). Hardware specs previously discovered by Laptoping include; an Intel Atom Atom Z3740 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB internal storage, Wacom digitizer support on the 1280×800 IPS 8-inch screen, and a GPS – all for about $300.
New specifications, as outlined and confirmed by the manual, include; both front and rear cameras, microphone, headphone connector, USB 2.0 connections, microSD slot and a side mounted Windows button. There are no video I/O ports. The manual isn't very precise about the specs of the hardware but rather focuses upon its use with Windows 8.1.
Dual boot bretheren?
The Laptoping report has dug a little deeper into the PDF manual and notices that near the end, on the EC Declaration of Conformity, another eight tablets are listed which will share a lot of the same hardware apparatus. The full list includes the M80T (this one), L80T, R80T, M81T, L81T, R81T, M82T, L82T, and R82T products. Laptoping says that of the nine tablets listed the first three run Windows, the second three are Android devices and the third set of three are dual-boot devices - as teased last week in the ASUS Statue of Liberty video.
This will be a very interesting range of products for ASUS to test the market with. Remember that ASUS gave up on Windows RT tablets in August last year, so any OS supported needs to 'earn its keep'. I wonder what the price differences will be, between the models sporting different OSes, and also if Microsoft will be charging ASUS for the Windows/Office licences. Hopefully all will be revealed at CES next week.
