Asus VivoTab ME400 announced as low-price Windows 8 hybrid

Asus has revealed the latest addition to its Windows hybrid Vivo tablet line-up with the VivoTab ME400.

The new device sports a small, lightweight form factor, Intel processor and a full version of Windows 8 (rather than Windows RT) at a low price point.

Asus appears to be aiming to replicate the success of the low-priced, premium-specced Nexus 7 Android tablet while at the same time remedying some consumer disappointments with Microsoft’s similarly priced Surface RT.

The VivoTab ME400, also known as the VivoTab Smart, will cost £399 (although this is without the keyboard), putting it at the same price as the Microsoft Surface, but, as with the Nexus 7, you’ll be getting far more bang for your buck thanks to the full-fat Windows 8 build and an Intel Atom Z2760 dual-core 1.8Ghz chip with 2GB of RAM.

That price also massively undercuts the majority of Windows 8 hardware from rival manufacturers. Typically for a Windows 8 tablet or laptop you can expect to pay a minimum of around £800.

The £399 price tag is for the 32GB model, though a 64GB version will also be available and all will have 10.1-inch touch IPS LCD displays with a 1366x768 pixel resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio.

You’ll also have an 8-megapixel camera and a battery pack with a 9.5 hour charge.

The keyboard, which is available separately for £75, doesn’t actually dock with the device and appears instead to work wirelessly – it’s not clear if this is Bluetooth, NFC or some other connection tech but we’ve seen reports indicating other Bluetooth kit will work with the tablet too.

The ME400 has Asus’ usual high-quality build, it looks very slick and stylish and appears to be remarkably thin too.

It reportedly weighs 580g which is considerably lighter than the Surface and Apple’s iPad 4 and it’s well-equipped with microUSB ports – there’s no proprietary stuff to be found and although there’s no full-size USB it will accept adaptors allowing a wider range of peripherals.

There’s currently no information on when the VivoTab ME400 will hit the market but we expect Asus won’t hang around and we expect we’ll probably see it by the end of Q2 at the latest.