14 DAY TRIAL // After a whole year of rumors and promises that tablets will become cheaper, ASUS is getting ready to drop a bombshell that will leave prospective customers rather shell-shocked.
ASUS has three Windows 8 tablets prepared to ship for the winter holidays, all of which were previewed during IFA 2012.
Granted, the ASUS Taichi isn't actually a tablet, but it does have a display on the laptop lid, so it can pass as one easily enough.
Nevertheless, it was, in the end, conceived as a dual-display laptop, so it has strong hardware. Thus, the price of $1,299 / 991-1,299 Euro is justified, albeit borderline.
The Vivo Tab and Vivo Tab RT don't have this luxury though, yet they still have prices of $599 or more (457-599 Euro).
The roadmap is preliminary, so ASUS could change the pricing scheme by the time shipments begin. We truly hope this happens, for everyone's sake and the company's in particular.
After all, consumers won't suffer all that much from the prices. Being so high, the tags are perfect reasons for buyers to look at alternatives, or give up on the idea of a tablet altogether.
Notebooks have been getting thinner, lighter and cheaper, and tablet buyers usually get a keyboard dock anyway, so there isn't much reason not to get a notebook when the price is the same, or even lower.
You can find the original report here, and some much more accessibly-priced slates in our IFA 2012 section. The $399 / 399 Euro Acer Iconia W510 will be a particularly big thorn in ASUS' side, and even the Iconia W700 is bound to sell for less than the Vivo Tabs.
Another tablet that we think deserves a look is the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD, with a tag of 450 Euro / $450-499. All in all, ASUS doesn't stand much of a chance if it actually sticks to the prices exposed in this leak.