Lenovo Tips Windows RT Tablets To Be Up To $300 Less Than Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft really upset some of its partners when it announced that it would be getting into the tablet market making its own hardware. Microsoft and its Surface tablets are due to come to market at roughly the same time Windows 8 launches. Many of Microsoft's partners are also going to be producing their own tablets running Windows RT and Windows 8.

Lenovo is one of the companies will be producing tablets using the new Windows operating system. The company has announced that its devices running Windows RT will be $200-$300 less than competing products using Windows 8. That's good news for consumers who are concerned that Windows RT tablets would come in at retail prices significantly above competing tablets on the market.

Windows RT tablets will run ARM technology and if Lenovo sticks to its pricing plan of $200-$300 less than competing products with standard Windows 8, they should be close in price to some of the other ARM tablets. Windows 8 tablets are expected to come in a price range similar to Intel ultrabooks at somewhere around $700.

If the approximately $600-$700 price range turns out to be true for Windows 8 tablets, that would put the Windows RT units somewhere around $400 to $500 when they hit the market. That price range will put them in the fight against the iPad on a price basis. However, matching the price of the iPad alone certainly will not guarantee success for Windows RT devices. The tablets will need to be superior in other ways. The market has shown simply matching the iPad on price and performance isn't enough.

[via Bloomberg]