Asus Windows 8 tablet PCs to start at $599, cost up to $1,299

Ballmer pegged “sweet spot” prices at $300 to $800.

With Windows 8 scheduled to launch on October 26, we’ve still received almost no official confirmation of what devices running Microsoft’s new operating system will cost. But leaked information published today by ZDNet reveals that a trio of Asus touch-screen devices will cost anywhere from $599 to $1,299.
According to ZDNet, this leaked slide, marked confidential, contains “Asus’ holiday roadmap.”

Microsoft hasn’t yet revealed pricing for its own Surface hardware, but CEO Steve Ballmer hinted at a potential price range in an interview a few days ago with the Seattle Times. Ballmer said the Surface will be a “very competitive product from the features perspective,” and that when companies “offer cheaper, they do less.” The sweet spot in the “bulk of the PC market,” Ballmer said, is anywhere between $300 and $800.

The Asus Vivo Tab RT is an ARM-based device, pre-loaded with Microsoft Office 2013, starting at $599, according to the slide published on ZDNet. The price is higher than an entry-level iPad (Microsoft’s primary competition), but identical to the third-generation iPad with 32GB of storage. As we’ve reported before, the Vivo Tab RT will ship with 32GB.
While the 10" 1366x768 display won’t be as sharp as an iPad’s, customers might get a lot more productivity out of these devices if they buy the optional keyboard dock. According to the slide leaked to ZDNet, the keyboard dock adds another $199 to the price, bringing the total price in line with a lot of decent Windows PCs.

The Vivo Tab RT runs Windows RT, a version of Windows for ARM processors that includes the Metro touch interface and a subset of desktop capabilities, including Microsoft Office. The other two devices described in the leaked slide run Windows 8, the version for x86 processors that is fully compatible with all desktop applications.
An Intel Atom-based tablet called the Asus Vivo Tab will start at $799, with an optional keyboard dock for $199. This will come with a trial version of Microsoft Office, according to the leaked slide.

Finally, the Asus Taichi, a dual-screen device with an 11.6" 1920x1080 screen and Intel Core i7 processors, will have a suggested retail price of $1,299. Described at the recent IFA show in Berlin, the Taichi is nothing if not unique. It’s built like a regular laptop, except it has a display on both sides of the lid. Only the display on the rear is touch-enabled.
In addition to the published slide, ZDNet said the leaked Asus roadmap includes "details about 12- and 13-inch laptops," with one costing $549 and the other, an Asus Transformer, costing $1,399.

If the leaked prices are correct, Asus’ Windows 8 devices won’t be undercutting the market’s cheaper tablets such as Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. That’s not a huge surprise, since Microsoft has been pitching Windows 8 and Windows RT as offering the best of both tablets and PCs. The idea of a $200 Surface tablet from Microsoft has been rumored, but based on Ballmer’s comments and the Asus leak it seems more likely that Windows 8 device makers will try to compete on features rather than price.