Hasta La Gadget!

Just because ASUS has planned a grand October 23rd event to outline its US Windows 8 lineup doesn’t mean we can’t get an advance peek. Pre-orders have officially kicked off for at least two touchscreen PCs that also give us a very good feeling for the hardware we’ll see at our doors. The dual-screened TAICHI 21 is naturally the star of the show, but it will cost you: a base version of the 11.6-inch hybrid with a 1.7GHz Core i5, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD starts at $1,300, while an uprated model with a 1.9GHz Core i7 and a 256GB SSD will set early adopters back by $1,600. We’d say the VivoBook X202 is more likely to get some purchases sight-unseen at $600 for an entry laptop with an 11.6-inch touchscreen, a 1.8GHz Core i3, 4GB of RAM and a conventional 500GB hard drive. Both of the systems should arrive in tandem with Windows 8’s October 26th launch and compound the traffic jams for couriers and retailers on what could be a very busy day.

[Thanks, Donny]

Update: As Computerworld noticed, Newegg also has a pre-order listing for the VivoTab RT, which costs $599 in its lone 32GB configuration. It ships the same day as its bigger cousins.

Filed under: Laptops, ASUS

ASUS TAICHI 21 and VivoBook X202 go up for US pre-orders, spoil the party a bit early (update: VivoTab RT, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has already been hitting the ground running with its massive marketing campaign for Windows 8 during the past couple of months. Apparently the company wants to spread the word about their new upcoming operating system — who knew? So, it may be no surprise that Microsoft is estimated of having spent anywhere between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion on its Windows 8 marketing campaign.

If those figures are correct, it would be the largest marketing campaign of any product product. Plus, compare it to the measly $200 million Microsoft spent to market Windows 95 and you have quite the gap between the company’s past products and today’s Windows 8. Longtime Microsoft analyst Rob Enderle says, “the marketing effort is on a scale you don’t see outside presidential elections.”

However, Enderle also notes that Windows 8 is a “a big risk” since Windows 8 could easily flop if there’s any aspect of negative resistance from consumers. Then again, other analysts think that Microsoft is doing everything right, saying that Metro and RT are the future, and making Windows 8 a universal OS that can be used on both tablets and PCs is the way to go.

Microsoft is focusing a lot on the cloud and tablet computing in Windows 8, and those are the two big changes that users will notice with Windows 8. Microsoft is putting a greater emphasis on touchscreen navigation and is making Windows 8 more tablet-like and optimizing the OS for mobile devices. Hopefully the company can get that message across clearly to consumers with their billion-dollar marketing campaign.

[via Forbes]

Windows 8 marketing campaign estimated at $1.5b is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If 2012 was the year of the Ultrabook, 2013’s going to be remembered by the massive proliferation of laptop / tablet hybrids. One such convertible that’s just been given full marks by the FCC is ASUS’ TAICHI, an 11.6 or 13.3-inch unit that’s packing an Ivy Bridge Core i7, 4GB RAM and, most notably, a display on both sides of its lid. While there’s no official word from the company on a launch date, now that the government has given a thumbs up, it can’t be too much further out. Plausibly, a rogue Amazon listing has pegged the 11.6-inch model as costing $1,300 and arriving on October 26th, alongside Windows 8.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

ASUS’ TAICHI convertible laptop hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 10:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few days ago, Amazon’s UK website revealed the packaging to various versions of Windows 8 Pro. However, no pricing details were available at the time. Today, though, online retailers are starting to post up their listings of Windows 8 with prices and all. Plus, the upcoming OS is available for pre-order right now.

This morning we noticed Newegg.com posted up their Windows 8 listings with upgrade versions as well as full OEM versions. The upgrades are priced at $69, which will allow you to seamlessly upgrade your Windows XP, Vista, or 7 PC straight to Windows 8. They offer a version with the disc and all, or you can go for the product key-only, both will cost you $69 each.

Newegg also has Windows 8 and Windows 8 Professional up on their site, both are available in 32-bit or 64-bit flavors. The regular Windows 8 variant will cost $99 for either the 32-bit or 64-bit version, and Windows 8 Professional will cost $139 for either 32-bit or 64-bit. The prices are comparable to past Windows operating systems. However, Newegg is offering a $10 pre-order discount if you buy the OS before it launches.

We decided to peek over to Amazon to see if they had Windows 8 up for pre-order, and indeed they did, but we could only find the Windows 8 Pro upgrade version. We’re not sure when they’ll list the rest, but it should be soon considering Newegg is already up and going.

Windows 8 now available for pre-order is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Most event teasers have at least some kind of grandiosity; we’re not under illusions that they have to be modest. At the same time, ASUS may have crossed a humility barrier with a teaser for an October 23rd event launching its upcoming Vivo Tabs and (possibly TAICHI- or Transformer Book-linked) Vivo Books. In the space of 42 seconds, ASUS likens the New York City announcement for its touchscreen Windows 8 devices to the Apollo moon missions, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and having a child — a bit much for slabs of aluminum and glass, we think. There’s not much to see of the systems themselves beyond what we already know, although Notebook Italia has noticed at least one reseller listing a Vivo Book S200 laptop with an 11.6-inch touchscreen, a Core i3, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive for €499 ($647). That price would go a long way towards ASUS’ promise of making touch “available to everyone…” we’re just not convinced it’s as important as Elvis.

Continue reading ASUS teases October 23rd Vivo Book and Vivo Tab event, likens it to world history (video)

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

ASUS teases October 23rd Vivo Book and Vivo Tab event, likens it to world history (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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