Asus unleashes tablet, notebook bonanza

Asus today debuted two new Windows 8 tablets and four notebooks at the IFA trade show in Berlin.

Previously known as the Tablet 810 and Tablet 600, the slates have been renamed Vivo Tab and Vivo Tab RT.

The Vivo Tab is an 11.6-inch slate running a fully-fledged Windows 8 OS. It carries an Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The Gorilla Glass screen has a 1366 x 768 resolution and works with a Wacom digitiser stylus.

There’s also NFC, and 8MP and 2MP rear and front cameras in a 675g, 8.7mm-thin body.

As the name suggests, the Vivo Tab RT runs on Windows RT, the stripped-down tablet-focussed edition of Windows 8. It runs on a Tegra quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage space.

The screen is 10.1-inch, 1366 x 768 and also clad in Gorilla Glass. Like its big brother, there’s NFC, two cameras, a keyboard dock and a Wacom stylus.

Asus is yet to announce pricing or launch date for its new tablets.

The PC maker today also showed off four new ultraportable notebooks.

Top of the line is the Zenbook U500VZ, a 19.7mm-thick 15-inch laptop with a full HD screen, full-size keyboard, Intel i7 quad-core processor and the option for Nvidia GT650M graphics and up to 512GB of SSD storage.

Next down the range is the Zenbook Prime UX21A Touch, which boasts a multitouch screen. It offers up to 256GB SSD storage.

The Asus Taichi features a double-sided display: open it up and it’s a standard notebook with keyboard; close it and it’s a multitouch tablet. In a similar vein is the Transformer Book, which features a screen that can be detached from the keyboard, transforming into a tablet.

No prices or release dates have been announced yet.