Acer joins the 8-inch world with the Iconia W3 running Windows 8 tablet

Acer announced that we would be seeing 8-inch tablet running Windows 8 at their earnings conference call. Now as we get closer to what we just might see it actually get released, though Acer hasn't made any official release date for the Acer Iconia W3. Just a few weeks ago Amazon slipped and had it on the site, and now you find the Acer Iconia W3 product page over at Acer's Finland webpage.

 

The Acer Iconia W3 rumored pricing is $380, which will be inline with the current iPad Mini and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 but the Iconia W3 will be running full Windows 8 OS. This could mean that you will be able to run full Windows application on the road and dock it or use it as a full desktop if need be! This is something to look forward as you can do business as usual and still travel very light weight and still have enough display to actually read email, web browsing, read your RSS feeds, news, etc...

 

Acer has confirmed the following specs from its website:

 

• 8 inch display
• Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail processor
• Windows 8 Pro
• 2GB RAM
• 64GB SSD
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0
• micro HDMI and micro USB ports
• microSD card slot
• 8 hour battery
• Optional keyboard dock

 

The Acer Iconia W3 will be the first Windows 8 tablet in a 8-inch display, this could be something that would give Acer the head start of sales for such a device. That is if the consumer see's the benefit of having an 8-inch Windows 8 tablet. I would like to see the Iconia W3 have a Wacom digitizer. I personally need for my work load to mark up documents, sign PDF's and this makes it much easier. Sure I could use a capacitive stylus, but when using OneNote to take notes in meetings, the Wacom digitizer makes a world of a difference.

Acer decided to actually make the keyboard dock a little bigger than the Iconia W3 to give you better typing experience. Having a small keyboard is just not good for productivity, and since Acer is including Microsoft Office is no wonder Acer has opted to give you better keyboard to be productive with the Iconia W3. You will be able to snap the keyboard to the back of your Iconia W3 when traveling.

 

From the earlier posting of the Acer Iconia W3 over at Amazon it did suggested that it will come with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013. Question is, will you hold off and wait to purchase the Acer Iconia W3? or wait for the iPad Mini with Retina? or maybe get the Samsung Galaxy Note 8?