ASUS' Vivo Tab & Vivo Tab RT: Windows 8/RT Tablets Renamed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 29, 2012 9:00 AM ESTAt Computex this year ASUS unveiled its Windows 8 and RT tablets in a surprisingly mature state. At their introduction ASUS simply named them the Tablet 810 and Tablet 600. Today, they are getting official branding. Meet the Vivo Tab and Vivo Tab RT.
The Vivo is the old Tablet 810, based on Intel's 32nm Clover Trail Atom platform. ASUS/Intel aren't discussing clock speeds yet, but the SoC is paired with 2GB of memory and an on-board 64GB eMMC device for storage.
The tablet features an 11.6-inch Super IPS+ display with a 1366 x 768 resolution. The capacitive touchscreen is aided by a Wacom digitizer stylus for hopefully natural pen input. The Vivo Tab weighs 675g and is only 8.7mm thick. You also get built in NFC, an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front facing camera.
The Vivo Tab RT is the Tablet 600, an ARM based Windows RT tablet using NVIDIA's Tegra 3 SoC. The dimensions drop a bit to 8.3mm thin and 520g. The display is smaller at 10.1-inches, but you still get a 1366 x 768 display resolution and a Super IPS+ panel. You get the same front/rear cameras from the Vivo Tab, and built in NFC as well.
The Vivo Tab RT ships with 2GB of memory and 32GB of on-board eMMC storage. Let's hope ASUS picked a good supplier for the eMMC in these tablets, so far Samsung seems to have the best solutions out of those I've tested.
Both tablets offer an optional mobile dock with integrated keyboard, trackpad, USB ports (2 on the Vivo, 1 on the RT) and secondary battery. This is the same flexibility ASUS' Transformer Pad series enjoys in the Android world. With Windows 8/RT, the appeal of a tablet that can transform into a clamshell ultraportable notebook seems so much greater though.
There's no word on pricing or availability for either of these two tablets, but you can expect them to show up in line with the official Windows 8/RT launch on October 26.
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MadMan007 - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Pretty sure you mean 64GB eMMC for the Vivo Tab. :)S-IPS+ and digitizer is nice, a bit of a shame the resolution is a bit low these days though. On the one hand it's just a tradeoff in aspect ratio versus 1280x800 and has the digitizer, on the other hand it's not high resolution. Better than 1024x758 anyway.
dagamer34 - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Hard to tell if it's for production, performance, or cost reasons, especially for Windows RT tablets. Like Anand and Brian said on the 2nd AnandTech podcast, it's likely all of the manufacturers were targeting 768p this year and were caught off guard with the iPad 3. Microsoft's desire to have a minimum level of performance has probably prevented OEMs from sticking in high resolution panels until SoCs can comfortably cope with a 1080p and above resolution.The good thing for game developers is we will have uniformity in performance for each generation of Windows RT tablets it looks like. Should make testing a LOT easier.
DanNeely - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
For the x86 tablet it could just be optimizing for desktop apps since windows DPI scaling has always been flaky and running a non-native DPI hurts sharpness everywhere.Silenux - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Very nice.Although I was thinking Asus was going all out with 1080p IPS displays starting from their Zenbook prime line.
Guess this will be a lot cheaper.
#Correction "64MB eMMC" Should be 64GB.
bleh0 - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
I don't care so much about the resolution as long as these products are not more expensive then the iPad, have decent battery life, and perform well.DanNeely - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Have these been leaked anywhere yet?Impulses - Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - link
Still not sold on this form factor, even tho I already own an ASUS Transformer + dock and I'm generally happy with it. I guess it comes down to personal preference, but people who need to get serious work done will still need a regular 13"+ laptop, making a hybrid tablet kinda redundant (and a smaller 7"-8.9" tablet more appealing as a companion to the laptop). I think I'm leaning into that camp, tho I might wait until next year to see what the next gen Atom does for price/performance of Win 8 hybrids.Visual - Thursday, August 30, 2012 - link
How about a 12" with a real i5 and Intel HD4000?