2012’s crop of high-end tablets is shaping up to be nothing short of mind-blowing, and Acer is keeping pace with its competitors thanks to the Iconia Tab A700. After teasing it at CES 2012, the tablet is now official after being unveiled in a press event in Hamburg. The Tegra 3-powered 1080p Ice Cream Sandwich tablet is the equal to just about anything we’ve seen thus far, but one thing concerns us is the price: how will Acer keep its reputation as a low-cost manufacturer while cramming in suck high-end parts? Apparently that concern is justified. According to German site Tablet Test, the A700 base model will have a price tag of €549, about $720 in United States dollars.
And that’s just for the 16GB model. A 64GB version will retail for €749, or just shy of one thousand dollars. That probably means that a 32GB model will slide in at €649. Keep in mind that these are target prices, given at a press event without any real commitment on the part of Acer – it’s possible that they could fluctuate up or down between now and the A700’s release sometime in the second quarter. Also consider that almost all electronics cost considerably more in Europe, even accounting for currency exchange rates.
All that said, the specs of the A700 might just warrant a sky-high price. A 1920×1200 IPS panel is downright amazing on a 10-inch device, to say nothing of its quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Throw in Ice Cream Sandwich, HDMI capabilities, a USB host port, a 5MP rear camera, 9800mAh battery and all the standard bells and whistles like WiFi and Bluetooth, and you’ve got a tablet that will put any current Android model to shame. Even so, I think a US price of $600 is the absolute maximum that any manufacturer should consider for their lowest-capacity model. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more official word as Mobile World Congress draws nearer.
[device id=2139]
[via UnWiredView]
549 Euro would be about 549 dollars in the US, because you don’t have all the taxes levied in Europe.
549 Euro would be about 549 dollars in the US, because you don’t have all the taxes levied in Europe.
Make a laptop version of it! Something like the lovely Toshiba AC100.
Exactly, Jean-Luc. That €549 price inludes 19% VAT, and the initial MSRP for the A500 was €499 (32GB), so the A700 isn’t all that much more expensive.