14 DAY TRIAL // What happens when Microsoft starts giving free Windows licenses to tablet manufacturers building products with form factors smaller than 9 inches and Intel is offering bargains for its chips? Prices of Windows 8.1 tablets become ridiculous, that’s what.
We already talked about Toshiba that is offering the Encore Mini with a $120 / €94 price tag, while HP’s latest Stream 7-inch slate can be purchased for as little as $100 / €78. These products are available on the Western market, but if you go to Asia, you’ll see that rates are dropping even more.
Not so long ago, we brought you news of the Pipo Work W4, an 8-inch tablet that is available for just $81 / €63.
Windows 8.1 with Bing tablets go below $81 / €63
But if you thought this was the lowest Microsoft can go, you are deadly mistaken. During this week’s HKTDC show in Hong Kong, a few device makers are showing off Windows tablets with prices of just $65 / €51, as reported by Asian market watcher Mike Cane.
One of them is the Emdoor EM-I8170, which brings about a 7-inch display with 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, an Intel Z4745G quad-core Bay Trail processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
As you can see from the images, the tablet’s display doesn't seem to be very good. For starters, it has limited viewing angles and as with most Windows 8.1 with Bing tablets, internal storage is quite limited, so you won’t have too much space for apps and such.
Even so, it’s a tablet running the fully-fledged version of Windows 8.1 that sells for a cheaper rate than the lowest Amazon Fire tablet which is marketed for $99 / €78.
Ployer takes up the building of Windows 8.1 with Bing tablets
Emdoor is not the only tablet maker hoping to bring prices down to the $65 / €51 threshold. You have probably never heard of Ployer, but this company has also put a similarly priced tablet on display. It has an 8-inch screen and runs an Intel Atom Z3735F processor. Other details about the product have not been revealed for the time being.
It’s not clear whether these super budget tablets are going to make it over in the US, but at some point some third-party re-sellers will probably pick them up.
For now, if you really, really want to adopt a cheap Windows tab, HP is offering the Stream 7 for just $100 / €78.
The slate is a pretty standard Windows 8.1 with Bing device, arriving with a 7-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution, an Intel Atom Z3735G processor working in concert with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
