14 DAY TRIAL // When Microsoft announced the advent of Windows 8.1 with Bing, we expected to see some really cheap tablets arrive into the wild, but we had no idea what the Redmond giant had in store for us.
Back in May, Toshiba was one of the first brand vendors to roll out tablets equipped with this particular operating system, in the form of the Encore 2 with 8-inch and 10-inch form factors.
In the beginning, there were the moderately priced Windows 8.1 tablets
The tablets offered a decent set of specs, but as it turned out they weren’t extremely cheap but sold with a price tag starting from $249 / €182.
For this money, customers could have purchased a tablet with a worthier set of specs, such as the Nexus 7 (2013), which runs Google’s latest operating system and is one of the most hyped slates the Android ecosystem ever produced.
Amazon currently sells the 16GB model of the Nexus tablet for $199 / €156, so go figure.
Some time ago, I argued in a piece that for the time being buying a Windows 8.1 with Bing tablet might not make sense. But this might have changed since then.
Really cheap Windows 8.1 tablets are now upon us
For starters, as the months went by, we continued to see dropping prices in the Windows 8.1 with Bing ecosystem. Back at IFA 2014 not so long ago, Toshiba rolled out the Encore Mini tablet, which sells for only $120 / €90.
I had the chance to spend some time with the mini slate at the Berlin event and I found the tablet to be quite laggy, although it did have a nice texture on the back.
The thing about Windows 8.1 with Bing is that it will allow manufacturers to ship devices with only 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also offers a one-year subscription to Office 365.
These are limitations you should really be considering if you're going to pay more than 200 bucks, but when the price has been cut in half, you might tend to skip over them.
The lowest point was hit this week, when Chinese tablet maker Pipo announced the W4 Windows 8.1 tablet, which sells for just $81 / €63.
The device offers an 8-inch IPS display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core Bay Trail processor under the hood fitted with the customary 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
By the looks of it, it sounds a little better than the Toshiba Encore Mini, but for the time being we’re not sure whether Pipo will be marketing it outside China; however, chances are it will ship internationally at some point.
Can Microsoft take things even lower? We’ll have to wait and see if this happens or not, but since the competition is pushing it all the way to the bottom, Microsoft will be forced to follow suit.
For example, tableters looking for a disposable Android 4.4 KitKat tablet might want to pick up the Nobis 7, which sells for only $49 / €37.
Of course, for this money you’ll be getting basic specs like low resolution (1024 x 600), a quad-core CPU (unnamed), and just 512MB of RAM.
However, a recent report claims that a tablet priced under $35 / €26 with decent specs and running Android might soon be upon us thanks to Allwinner’s new quad-core A33 chip. This processor architecture should grant support for 1280 x 800 resolution and high-definition video.
Microsoft's strategy might boost Windows 8.1 marketshare
Back in July 2014, Strategy Analytics said that Android tablet market share had hit 70% in Q2, while iPad had slipped to 25%. But Windows tablets had a grip of only 5%, so you see why Microsoft seems to be following Android’s strategy
As more and more super-cheap Windows 8.1 tablets make an entry on the market, Microsoft might stand a chance in grabbing more tablet market share.