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Toshiba's inexpensive Windows tablets now have a pen option
We've seen plenty of super-cheap Windows tablets, but until now, companies have invariably had to cut corners to get the prices so low. That's why Toshiba's new "Encore 2 Write" slates are interesting: Though they are indeed inexpensive, they allow for pressure-sensitive pen input, something you'll rarely see on a device in this price class. The two tablets come in 8- and 10-inch sizes, and will sell for $350 and $400 when they go on sale next week. For the money, you get a Wacom-made pen, with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. To put that in perspective, Microsoft's own Surface 2 costs $449 and doesn't have a pen option. If we're going by the price and spec sheet alone, then, Toshiba's new tablets are a good deal.
Toshiba's new tablets are aggressively priced, especially its $110 Android slate
The last time Toshiba unveiled a bunch of tablets, it paid lip service to cutting-edge specs -- things like screen resolution and processing power. This year, it wanted to push the price down low enough that you'd actually buy one. The company has just announced two Windows tablets, the 8- and 10-inch Encore 2, along with the Excite Go, a 7-inch Android tablet. And while none of them might be memorable in their own right, they're all worth a second look, if only because they're so aggressively inexpensive. The Encore tablets, for instance, start at $200 for the 8-inch and $270 for the 10-inch. And mind you, they basically have the same specs (quad-core Intel Atom processor, 1,280 x 800 screens) as the original 8-inch Encore, which was originally priced at $330. (The 8-incher has been slimmed down, but that's almost beside the point -- it's all about the price cut.)
