It’s rare that a new offering in the ultra-mobile PC space races to the top of the charts so quickly but that’s what has happened with the new Acer Aspire Switch 10 over the last two weeks.  The previous generation Iconia W510 is about to drop off the bottom of the top 10 so it’s perfect timing for Acer. They’ve got some competition though and there’s little information out there about the finer points of the device like disk performance and screen quality…apart from one that’s just been published by the good people at Tabtec.de.

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The new Toshiba Encore 2 tablets have launched. An 8-inch model, the Encore 2 8, will start at $199. The 10-inch Toshiba Encore 2 10 will be $269

The two tablets were announced by Toshiba today and they have a whole new set of specifications. Down goes the launch price but so do the specs in some areas.

The 8-inch tablet has been reported to start with just 1GB of RAM on a quad-core CPU (likely the Z3735F or Z3735D) with a screen resolution of 1280×800. 1GB will be fine for working within the Modern UI but will certainly cause problems for people wanting to do extensive desktop or browser-based application activity.

Full specifications haven’t been revealed yet but here’s what we’ve got so far.

• 1280×800 resolution touchscreen on both models.
• Quad Core Atom CPU (likely Z3735 series.)
• 1GB RAM (at least on the 8-inch model. Information isn’t clear at this stage.)
• 2GB RAM (on entry level Windows 10 model. There may options for 64GB and 2GB on the 8-inch model.)
• 32 or 64GB storage options.
• Micro SD card on both models.
• Audio jack
• Wireless display
• Micro HDMI on the 10-inch model only.
• Office 365 one year license provided. (Note that a Modern UI version of Office would require a 365 license so this could have more value in the near future.)
• ‘10 hour’ battery.
• 5MP rear cam, 1.2MP front.
• Dolby Digital Plus audio processing.
• Windows 8.1 with Bing (without Office)
• Size of 10-inch: 258,8 x 175 x 8,98 mm. Weight of 10-inch model: 555 grams / 1.2 pounds (This would make it one of the lightest 10-inch Windows tablets.)
• Size of 8-inch: 210,62 x 132 x 9,48 mm. Weight of 8-inch model: 385 grams

Unknown specifications

• Battery size?
• TPM?
• Connected Standby?

As the first official Windows 8 tablets with the refreshed Baytrail-T platform and the new licensing deal with Windows 8.1 + Bing they don’t have any direct peers to compare against yet. An early launch before Computex could well be a good move because we’ve got a hunch that there’ll be products using the same platform launching there for less than this.

Both products will be available in early July.

The 10-inch Encore 2 tablet will be available for purchase in early July at select retailers and on toshiba.com/us , starting at $269.99. 544 grams (1.2 pounds) MicroHDMI, MicroUSB 2.0

The 8-inch Encore 2 tablet will be available for purchase in early July at select retailers and on toshiba.com/us, starting at $199.99. MicroUSB 2.0

The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 was launched yesterday. It’s an ultra-mobile Ultrabook…without a keyboard, but impressive nonetheless. I’ve written an editorial for Ultrabooknews that you might want to check out. Readers here, however, may have been more interested in a Microsoft Surface Mini. It didn’t happen.

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$214 for an Acer Iconia W4. $229 for a Dell Venue 8 Pro. $193 for a Toshiba Encore WT8. $220 for a Lenovo Miix 2 8. And that’s just the Amazon.com prices. The bargain though is the Acer Iconia W4 64GB at $259.

We’ve seen some offers on 8–inch Windows tablets before but they were short-lived and mainly for hype-generation but it looks like prices have been pushed down permanently now as all the 8-inch tablets compete against each other. Prices at the Microsoft Store are also discounted but not as much as through some resellers at Amazon. The best deal I could find was the Acer Iconia W4 with 64GB sold by Amazon.com for $259.99. The Acer W4 has an HDMI port, good battery life, great screen and comes with a USB OTG adaptor cable so you can get going with USB accessories right out of the box. There’s a range of accessories too. Yeah, it’s not the thinnest or lightest but it’s very capable. For a thin and light solution either the Dell Venue 8 Pro or the Lenovo Miix 2 8. Given the slightly better screen and WiFi on the Dell, the $229 price for a 32GB version is still very good.

Windows 8 Tablets at Amazon.com

While prices for the current generation of tablets are good, where are the promised $99 tablets? The Onda V819i Android tablet running on a Z7935D at about $130 (local price conversion) is said to be getting a free Windows 8 ‘sidegrade’ but as yet I’ve seen nothing about availability although there is this demo video available. (Via)

Apart from this, clearly local information, there’s nothing to be seen in the US and European markets yet.

We’ll keep an eye on pricing and evidence of Z3795-based Windows 8 tablets. Right now it seems that the only action is with Android. The latest Tesco Hudle 2 could be one of them so keep an eye on pricing because the bill of materials for the Android and Windows versions are the same. The Hudle 2 is said to be coming in late Q3.

There’ll be a 4GB option too! Lenovo have launched the Thinkpad 10 along with a number of accessories. Based on the Intel Baytrail-T Z3795 the Thinkpad has almost all the specifications you could wish for. It’s targeted at the mobile workforce but the for ultra-mobile PCs fans this 60 gram, (1.31 pounds) PC is one to take a close look at.

The Thinkpad 10 is shown above with the Ultrabook’ keyboard, a $129 accessory that we don’t think has a battery inside but looks to offer a high quality working area. There’s a dock available too. (UBS 3.0 we believe) The digitizer is said to be optional so expect something in the region of $100 for that and the digitizer pen. 128GB and 4GB could take prices very high too. A fully loaded Windos 8.1 Pro model with Ultrabook keyboard is likely to be around $1000 but it could be the only PC some people will need. At under 600 grams it’s going to be a lot lighter than the Dell Venue 11 Pro (Baytrail) which is very important for a tablet. It will be fanless and with the USB3.0 port, microHDMI and separate charging port, very flexible in terms of connectivity and usage.

Lenovo Thinkpad 10 specifications.

• CPU: Intel Baytrail-T Z3795 (1.6Ghz – 2.4Ghz)
• 10.1? 1920×1200 screen
• 2/4GB RAM
• 64/128GB emmc Flash
• 802.11 abgn / BT 4.0/3G
• 8MP rear camers. 2MP front camera.
• Micro SD, full USB3.0, MicroHDMI, audio port.
• Options: 3G/4G, digitizer, Windows 8 Pro.

Like all Windows 8 tablets on Baytrail it will have a TPM module inside, will support basic Bitlocker disk encryption, support InstantGo and, with the Windows 8 version, will come with free Microsoft Office Home and Student.

In our last review we looked at an 8-inch tablet running on the Atom Z3740 costing under $300. In this review we have the Dell Venue 11 Pro 10.8 inch tablet running the current high-end Z3770 CPU and costing $499. The powered keyboard is an additional accessory at $159. The two units are extremely well built but are they worth it? We take a look in our detailed Dell Venue 11 Pro  review.

With only 2/9 touch PCs updated here, 1 installing as I write, 1 downloading and 5 failures that need re-trying I suspect that there’s quite a bit of throttling and control going on by Microsoft today. I’m behind 1 IP address and after trying concurrent installs I’ve dropped back to a one-at-a-time method and it seems to be working now. I advise you do the same if you have multiple PCs

The Dell Venue 11 Pro, Lenovo Miix 2 10 and Acer W510 have updated successfully and all three are booting to Modern, as expected. Non-touch PCs will now boot to desktop.

I’m not a fan of integrating the mouse controls on the Modern UI but because they are hidden when using touch, it’s not an issue. The start-screen search box is a good idea. A Control Panel shortcut now appears in the Modern ‘Change PC Settings’ menu and you can pin Modern apps to the desktop taskbar – a first step in cross-environment integration but remember there’s no floating Windows Store apps in the desktop yet and no changes to the Start Menu. They are coming in a future update. Newly installed apps are easier to find in the Modern apps list now.

For those of us lucky enough to have Connected Standby-capable devices, you won’t see the Power icon on the Start screen.

Just in case you think it’s not worth updating because you’re on a tablet, think again. If you don’t update you’ll eventually lose the ability to update in the future. This update is obligatory.

A new ‘Disk Space’ menu item is a good start in providing users with 16, 32 and 64GB SSDs easier ways to control disk usage but there’s a lot more that could go in there. A shortcut to the ‘Disk Cleanup’ option for a start.

Here’s a video update from my home office this morning. Let us know what your experience was in the comments below and if you’ve had problems, let us know which device it was.

Miix 2 8 and Miix 2 10, Thinkpad 8 and Thinkpad 10. It makes sense, right? The Thinkpad 10 is due to launch next month if the news is correct. Expect something to challenge the HP Elitepad 1000 and Fujitsu Q584 and something that could have all the great qualities we’ve already seen on the Thinkpad 8 but with more processing power, more RAM, an optional keyboard and a lot of business options. Yes, pricing is going to be on the high side but if they can engineer something lighter than the competition, this could be the one.

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