“Asus has a trio of Windows 8 tablets on deck for the holidays, but the pricing is so high – $599 to $1299 for a hybrid – that it’s going to be nearly impossible to compete in the marketplace. We were leaked Asus’ holiday roadmap and the slide below tells the tale.” If this is for real, Windows 8 is screwed in the tablet space. Nobody is going to buy a Windows tablet at prices higher than the iPad.
Until a good tablet comes down to the pricing of a net-book I don’t see the need to change over.
No physical keyboard, no USB ports, no full size SD Card slots, no easy way to replace the drive, no ethernet port. All these I have on my net-books, with a battery life of 9+ hours on my Toshiba NB305 ($350) and 6+ on my Acer Aspire One ($215). So what do I gain with these pricey tablets?
PS. And the fact that I can install Haiku-OS on the Intel based net-books makes it a done deal for me.
They most have some really good added value.
Because the price of Android tablets is already pretty low and the trend seems to be to continue downwards:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/15/hardware-is-dead/
I followed your link.
7 inch screen vs 10 inch on my net-books.
How much working RAM?
4GB of storage? 80GB SSD in my Toshiba, 270GB in my Acer. And like those tablets I can add SD cards and USB external storage at the same time.
Not saying I would not buy a cheap tablet, but I noticed a lack of details about hardware interfaces on most tablets on sale at present.
I think the point of the article is that prices are low and they will continue to drop. Especially for what is considered higher end right now.
Same thing here.
My little Asus with 8GB RAM, 500 GB HD, AMD Brazos dual core with RADEON 6320 costed me 300 euros. It was being sold in Amazon Germany with GNU/Linux pre-installed.
Plus it has a battery time of around 6 hours.
Why should I pay the double for a tablet that offers less?
A EEE 1225B? I got one of the 1215Bs, great little unit. I stuck with the Win HP X64 it came with but with 8Gb of RAM its more like an ultraportable than a netbook and just cost me $350 with the RAM upgrade and a carrying case, just love the thing.
But if they think they are gonna sell Win 8 pads for MORE than an iPad? I wonder if they’d be interested in some magic beans. Apple sells because of branding and Windows has never been and will never be a hip brand, no matter how much Ballmer wants to change that. Windows has ALWAYS sold best on low margin, high volume units only now MSFT has priced themselves out of the market because when you can get a tablet running ICS for $99, who is gonna pay $600+ for a Win 8 one?
Depends on your use cases I guess. For example, if you can surf the web on a netbook while lying on your back or sitting on the crapper, then you are most certainly a better man than I
Sorry then, I must be a better man than you because I do both things with my net-books.
Worse, I can even walk and read a novel on my machines at the same time.
A nice 7 inch tablet is good for a lot of things that a netbook isn’t.
You can read ebooks on it while easily holding it in one hand. You can load up a bunch of interesting links off your favorite RSS feed to read later on your walk or bus ride. You can play a game while waiting in line at the pharmacy or wherever. You can use it for speaking notes during a presentation.
It just isn’t as clumsy and hard to hold as a netbook. It isn’t as obviously a computer either so it doesn’t look as out of place. It looks more like a pad of notepaper or a book.
Thom,
I personally would pay more for a Windows tablet than an iPad, simply because a Windows tablet would be far more compatible with the ecosystem I work in. Full office, skydrive, SharePoint etc.
Most businesses exist inside the Microsoft ecosystem, and a tablet that, out of the box, will perfectly integrate with the existing setup would be killer. I am speaking of this such as Active Directory compatibility, device management, software distribution, update services etc.
Furthermore, this is more than simply a tablet. Add a keyboard and mouse, and you have a full Windows desktop. I see this completely replacing laptops for many business folk.
Who on earth downvoted this past zero? I absolutely agree, and more: the target market is users who both want a tablet and are locked into Windows software. MS leverages Office, why shouldn’t a Win 8 tablet leverage traditional MS monopoly?
People who live outside the Microsoft ecosystem, and therefore have no idea about how things work.
Among them are most journalists in the tech and mainstream media, who live in the Apple ecosystem. David Pogue of the New York Times once claimed that businesses will stick with Windows because it was so bad that the IT staff will be guaranteed never to make themselves redundant. I think he actually believed this stuff.
Just as I’m sure the downvoters also genuinely believe whatever they believe. It just happens to be wrong.
I think I remember reading that the full Microsoft Office suite will be ported to Windows 8 RT. As for everything else, will it really be available? I didn’t even think there was a version of Outlook available for Windows RT, but maybe I’m just confusing that with no Metro version…
Please forgive me if I’m wrong. I haven’t really been following the development of Windows 8.
Yes, if Microsoft can get Windows 8 RT versions of all of their big business software applications working well then it has the potential to be quite usful in businesses.
Office RT does not include VBA or macros. This substantially reduces the attack surface for the non-Metro side of Windows RT. But it also makes Office RT useless for businesses that have core business functionality implemented in VBA.
Office RT indeed lacks Outlook. That also removes a large fraction of business users. Some of them can indeed get by with Mail and Calendar, but many won’t.
A couple of points:
Windows 7 tablets also integrated perfectly into the ecosystem. How well did they do?
BYOD is already out of the gate and gaining acceptance. It would be tough to put that genie back in the bottle.
In many ways, there is no such thing as a windows 8 desktop. Its only Windows RT with legacy mode for older more useful apps.
Windows 7 (and XP and Vista) tablets didn’t have a touch interface. They had a normal desktop interface, augmented with stylus/pen input widgets and ink support and handwriting recognition support. And they did well in niche business/corporate/government activities where a mobile stylus-based tablet would be useful. But they had no “touch” (i.e. finger-based) UI*, which is what would be more appealing to the general public (outside of the stylus-tablet niche).
———
* Actually some Win7 tablets do/did have finger-touch support, but didn’t have finger-touch UI. That is, these devices supported finger-touch but the “shell” UI was still the normal desktop, and the apps were normal desktop apps, which are optimized for mouse/keyboard/stylus input rather than finger input.
Why should they spend a premium on it over a laptop? Because tablets are trendy?
When it comes to boosting productivity there aren’t many business cases where tablets make sense. This may come as a shock to many but Windows tablets are already used where they are needed (hospitals, construction sites).
I’m also not convinced that Windows 8 is good for tablets. I like Metro in WP7 but I’m not yet sold on how Windows 8 handles multitasking. Maybe it is ok but it definitely sucks on the desktop.
There is another problem which is that Windows 8 will have poor reviews out of the gate. So they’re asking consumers to pay more for an OS that everyone says is a POS.
The ipad mini is going to kick the crap out of everything if it is priced as expected. Windows 8 will be third page news.
The only silver lining in all this is that Windows 8 will mark the beginning of the end of Sinofskysoft. Goodbye Ballmer too you assclown.
I agree pricing needs to come down…but remember, these are actually a notebook AND a tablet in one device. I know you can approximate that with iPad or Android tablets, but both OS’s are limited.
For those of us who have a notebook and a tablet, and can’t rely on iOS or Android for full-fledged computing (e.g., development), something like this would be a great option. That’s $599 for something that’s as powerful as a real notebook, but can also replace the iPad or Android tablet.
I think the way to market this is as $599-$1299 for something that replaces two devices…say a $500 notebook and a $200 tablet.
Having pushed for the laptop/tablet hybrid approach myself, I agree there is unmet demand for mobile products that just are not being targeted by apple or android devices. In theory these hybrids could meet that demand but I donno about the price though, it’s much too steep in my opinion, particularly for ordinary consumers. It’s evident that many people have more money to spend than I do though, so who knows.
In any case I won’t consider getting one even at the right price unless/until they are jailbroken and I know I can dual boot.
Edited 2012-09-18 18:09 UTC
$599 is for WinRT device, that as far as universality is concerned looks pale compared to even Android devices now.
x86 stars with $799 for Atom (= netbook class performance). The proper laptop class HW runs $1299.
These prices would look good if the figure was $299, $599, $799.
Edited 2012-09-18 19:29 UTC
Agreed, it not that I don’t want to buy a tablet/note-book like Microsoft has shown. It is I can’t justify spending so much money to get less than what I can get out of a regular note-book/laptop for almost half the price.
Bring the price down and let me install any OS I choose and I will be there with the cash in hand.
Edited 2012-09-18 20:46 UTC
Sooooo…. Macbook Air class hardware that doubles as a tablet should cost less than a macbook air?
Yes, Macbook Air is old hat. Advances in technology should bring prices down.
Plus, how much of Macbook Air’s pricing is determind by the BOM and how much is determined by “Look at me being fancy with this ultra thin thing over here”?
Well….what is the alternative then? the cheap hardware is crappy for use as a production machine. The $1200 device here is capable of being a production machine, not just a consumption/communication device.
It would be, but $600 (I hate the misleading ’99’ stuff) appears to be for the ARM version without the keyboard dock, so essentially just an overpriced iPad minus the huge App Store. To get the notebook experience, the price is actually more like $800. To get to the full x86 notebook experience (albeit only with an Atom CPU, so still not really a speed demon), you’re most likely looking at $1000.
If these prices are correct, I highly doubt these will be flying off the shelves.
That’s well and fine, but as a commodity product this prices at least this Asus product out of the mass market — and the competition is getting less expensive, seeing improvements to the UI; unlike the poxy hacked together mash-up that is NCI…
Factor in $85 billion in quantitative easing a month with no limit in the U.S. market — and inflationary costs are going to prevail on the future of what happens even for large deep pockets enterprise customers.
This thing will be as Thom implies; dead before it even gets to market…
Edited 2012-09-18 18:14 UTC
I assume Microsoft will be targeting the business market initially, where Windows is king. So there will be plenty of very large corporate orders for these devices.
Perhaps Thom does not understand that there may be more markets for tablet devices other than personal media consumption.
I’ve been to a few corporate hardware purchases and I can tell you Thom is spot on. When you purchase thousands of units, every single nickel and dime makes a huge difference in CAPEX. Lately we’ve been selecting laptops for a 1000-unit project. The difference in price between the two finalists was about $40 (~$600 vs. $640) and we chose to go with the cheaper one (though admittedly price was not the only deciding factor). And the machine is quite a bit more capable than even the $1000 unit from the pricing quoted for these Win8 tabs (the TF810C + dock).
If these leaked materials are accurate, I see a bad awakening for Asus in the coming months…
Your example misses the point; at the end of the day most corporate purchases revolve around products to run a Microsoft OS/suite. Do they not?
If microsoft can provide a seamless integration of the surface with the windows ecosystem, then they will have some relatively big initial corporate orders. At $600 a tablet that can do most of what a laptop is used for in corporate environments (e-mail, excel/powerpoint, web stuff) really is a no brainer for a lot of corporate environments.
I am not saying that the demand will be earth shattering perhaps, but enough to give windows 8 tablets enough momentum to keep growing. Microsoft is a persistent company. It took them what? 10 years to get the desktop gui OS right, but look at the market share of Windows on the desktop.
I doubt MS are going to command the tablet
market like they do with the desktop, but brushing them off may be premature.
That depends on largely the project. Our project’s focus was on activities, not tools, so we chose to go with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Most of the core tools were web apps anyway, so that helped level the playing field significantly (switching from native to web is a trend I see all across the industry).
And that’s exactly what it isn’t. The $600 model is ARM-based, not x86, so forget binary compatibility. Also Win RT only allows installation from the Windows Marketplace, so your entire existing infrastructure with tons of custom enterprise Windows software is worthless. E-mail, excel/powerpoint and web stuff is something Android and iOS can do as well and for a lot less money. ActiveSync and Exchange integration? Yep, that too. Device management, remote wipe, storage encryption enforcement, password policies – all supported.
I’m not doubting Microsoft’s persistence. They have always been good at throwing large sums of money at problems in order to resolve them. Any other company would have long gone bust had they so messed up as Microsoft sometimes did (e.g. Zune).
I’m not brushing off Microsoft here – I never said that or even hinted at it. What I said was:
Lots of people will buy this because it’s priced so high. Most people assume cost equates quality and will want the high end tablet.
Personally, rather than buy a docking station and a $600 tablet, I’d buy a low-end laptop and a new desktop box.
Agreed.
Ouch, I did not think of that. But you are right, and since it is likely that many IT departments will have a easier time integrating these machines into their Windows environment we could see a lot of upper management wanting the most expensive toys available while at the same time finding less resistance to their purchase from IT.
Surface computers may become the next “Corporate Bling” to show-off how much money you make.
Agree.
Asus is making a bold statement with this pricing, should it be genuine, that can yield a very subtle but significant insight about the current state of the PC market. By pricing it this high, they either 1) have a very specific niche in mind, or 2) are saying that for most people tablets + keyboards vs. proper laptops are essentially the same and unnoticeable. If the latter, that would be the ultimate statement in the whole “are tablets PC’s” war: definitely, irrevocably “yes!”
Of course, Asus can say whatever they want, but whether the market agrees is another matter. On the other hand, market failure does not necessarily imply that most people reject the product because they still find substantial differences between laptops and convertible tablets. WP7 is failing yet it’s an amazing, eye-catching platform.
All that said, I think the conclusion that Windows 8 will be screwed in tablet space is premature. First of all, isn’t MS releasing its own tablet? The pricing may yet be more reasonable on that. Second, I’m pretty suspicious of ZDNet’s evidence. For all we know, that road map could be for Asus vendors in a minor foreign market where products are priced in USD (or AUD or CDN; they’re all almost the same now) but where costs are very high. It could also drastically change. But then again, I don’t deal with speculation like this usually so perhaps this is solid evidence as far as tech rumors go.
The only way I see tablets being worthwhile is if two things happen:
– Having a keyboard, which makes them laptops with detachable screens
– Not having walled gardens, allowing the same type of free use you get with standard computers.
So in the end, the question is why pay 500 euros for less freedom just to browse the web on the sofa?
PS: Today at the gym, a girl was using a tablet (Dell Latitude ST) to enter some data, it took her the double of the time than using a keyboard.
And yet she still used it. That’s my point. I don’t disagree with you otherwise (well, actually, my ideal would be a Linux tablet w/ Bluetooth mini keyboard a la Nokia Maemo series).
To be fair it wasn’t her choice, as the gym makes the employees use them.
Same thing with a Japanese restaurant chain in Germany that uses iPads for the menus. Think about that, an iPad per table just to allow the people to use an app, instead of a paper menu.
Last year in Helsinki I saw a similar iPad usage in a cocktail bar.
I really think it is ridiculous to spend 500 euros to replace a paper menu, per table, but what do I know about first world problems?!
Is it ridiculous? Maybe. Maybe not.
If it is only the menu then its just a gimmick. But it might include ordering and easy ways to get the attention of the wait staff or to pay the bill. If the app lets them serve more customers with fewer wait staff that is a win. If they can get higher customer satisfaction that is also a win.
If they lose a lot of iPads to drops or spills that may be a loss.
A win?
If I do the math for 500 euros per table, I can easily reach an amount of several thousands euros, given the size of both places I’ve mentioned.
For something that does not do more that show a glorified version of a paper menu. You cannot even access the Internet.
Then I think how many people try to survive with their low incomes, while wannabe trendy places do this kind of thing.
I don’t get it.
As zlynx has pointed out, if the use of a tablet is tied into the ordering system and increases efficiency to the point that the restaurant can fit just one more cover per table, per day, it will pay for itself inside a month.
these are new and low volume products. they’ll charge whatever they can get for them, but lets look at the historical precedent: netbooks.
given that these atom convertibles are netbook hardware with some extra features, the prices should look higher than a premium netbook today, or like an early expensive netbook.
good netbooks were $500 in 2008, and are about that price now. that looked like a lot compared to a full laptop which had more of everything and cost the same price.
the atom netbook in that slide is $1000. that’s a lot. if competition drives it down to $750 before the next product cycle, that might make some sense. 50% premium for convertible convenience and touch screen features.
even the arm netbook there seems expensive. $800 for what people might see as a big nexus 7 ($200) with a keyboard and a broken windows. but for comparison, asus can get $600+ for their TF700T which is probably the same hardware. so how much is the broken windows rt license with faux-office worth to anybody. $100-$200? asus thinks so.
I for one am most interested in the “yoga”/”tai-chi” flippable form factor. if a manufacturer can make this work, it might be considered superior to the detachable monitor method, which seems unnatural compared to flipping the screen around. I might find a use for an ultrabook that flips backwards to become a tablet.
and merge Android and Chrome os for such devices.
They’ve got basics right, they have stable Linux + app/drivers ABI thing on Arm and now x86. Everything Linux always needed on the desktop.
On could add X11 backward compat. on top of surface flinger to get some apps for starters or finally embrace QT (better late than never).
They need to add 1st class support for keyboard / mouse in their GUI.
From the basic Clover info docs it looks Win8 will have edge in power management department. That has to be sorted out too, Google should work with Intel here.
What doesn’t work well on Android with keyboard and mouse? I’ve run it this way without any obvious problems.
It also gives you access to the best tablet software.
It also gives you access to your existing itunes library.
I’m not an Apple fan but I know an overpriced product when I see one. Most people would rather have a laptop + ipad and Windows 8 doesn’t change that. Amazon/B&N have the right idea which is to subsidize the tablet and go after the people like myself that mainly want a browser/reader.
But the ipad mini will put the brakes on that strategy as well.
That is ludicrous pricing. O_o
They might sell one or two…