In case you haven't heard, a lot -- and we mean a lot -- of Windows devices are going on sale this week. Today it's ASUS' turn to give its lineup a formal coming-out party: the company is hosting a press event here in New York City, where it just announced the dockable VivoTab RT will be available on October 26th, starting at $599 for the 32GB model, keyboard included. Alternatively, you can buy the 64GB tablet and docking station for $699. As we previously reported, an LTE version is coming to AT&T. Finally, ASUS says it will also sell the tablet and dock individually, but we haven't yet learned final pricing for those items. We'll update this post when we do.
If this is your first introduction to the VivoTab RT, here's a quick recap: it basically offers everything people loved about ASUS' Android-based Transformer tablets, except it runs Windows RT instead. Like the Infinity and other recent ASUS tablets, it has a 600-nit Super IPS+ display, offering 178-degree viewing angles and Gorilla Glass protection. Other specs include a quad-core Tegra 3 chip (the new T30, to be exact), 2GB of RAM, NFC and an 8-megapixel rear camera with an auto-focusing f/2.2 lens. Then there's that keyboard dock, which has a USB 2.0 port and built-in battery rated for seven hours. (The tablet itself is said to last up to nine hours.) Finally, of course, as a Windows RT device it comes loaded with all of the same stock applications you'll find in full Windows 8 (Mail, IE 10, etc.), along with Office 2013 Home & Student. The main difference: you won't be able to install legacy Windows programs.
The VivoTab RT arrives the same day as the Surface for Windows RT and indeed, we'll be eager to compare the two, especially since pricing for the keyboard-tablet bundles is identical. In fact, ASUS sent us one to test, and you can expect a review any day now. Until then, we've embedded some press photos below, in case you're just getting your first look.
ASUS VivoTab RT tablet arrives October 26th, starting at $599 for the 32GB model; keyboard dock included (update: eyes-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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