Toshiba has announced that the Excite AT200 tablet they introduced back in September will start shipping to the US before the end of the month. As expected, the tablet will arrive in both 16GB and 32GB versions, but with unexpected price points. For some reason, Toshiba’s asking a lot for their upcoming tablet, with the base 16GB version priced at $530 and the 32GB version costing $600.
As expected, Toshiba has started shipping their Thrive 7-inch tablet today (technically falling under their “early December” launch window) for the promised sub-$400 price tag. For $379.99, you get a 16GB tablet fronted by a 1280 x 800 resolution display that runs on Android 3.2 and a Tegra 2 processor – a good deal, unless you’re looking for something with a little more screen real estate (in which case, you should check out the original 10-inch Thrive, now going for the same $379.99 price). For $429.99, you get double the storage (32GB) and the same bits, packed inside the same .5-inch thick, .88-pound shell.
Toshiba has entered the Ultrabook fray with the Portege Z830, a 13.3-inch laptop based on Intel’s Ultrabook spec that manages to pack everything in a 0.63-inch (15.9mm) thick frame that weighs 2.45 pounds, making it even thinner and lighter than Apple’s MacBook Air. But that’s not the best part: they also managed to come up with an Ultrabook that costs less than $1,000 without sacrificing too much on the spec.
We’re not sure exactly how the Toshiba Thrive is “thriving” since it launched back in July, but we’re guessing it didn’t do so well against the iPad 2 or Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs. Anyway, here’s Toshiba’s attempt to do better: they just unveiled the AT200 – or the Excite – tablet at IFA. How does it differ from the last one? For starters, this 10-incher is awesomely slim. At 7.7mm thick, it’s slightly slimmer than even the Galaxy Tab 7.7 Samsung introduced on the same day, and at 558 grams, it’s also lighter than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. Exciting stuff indeed.
