FollowThe Toshiba Encore tablet is now up for pre-order at Amazon. The tablet which comes with an 8 inch display has at its core an Intel Atom Bay Trail processor and runs the latest Windows 8.1 operating system. This apart, one of the best features of the tablet is that it comes loaded with the Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Student Edition. First launched in September, the Toshiba Encore has also been priced quite competitively at $300 for the 32 GB storage variant.
The Encore also happens to be the first 8 inch tablet that Toshiba has come up with. The core processor is a quad core Z3740 chip from the Intel Atom line of CPU’s. Other than that the tablet also has 2 GB of RAM along with 32 GB of internal memory. The latter can be further expanded to a maximum of 32 GB via micro SD cards.
Screen resolution of the 8 inch display is 1280 x 800 pixels. It is based on IPS technology for a wider viewing angle. For connectivity the tablet features Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n. It also has an added Intel HD Graphics card to handle the graphics processes. It features two cameras which has become quite standard these days. An 8 mp camera adorns the read while at the front, there is a 2 mp camera for video chats and self portraits. On the ‘port’ side, the Encore features a micro HDMI port that will let the tablet be connected to an external display. A micros USB 2.0 port is also available for connecting external devices to it. For sound recording it comes with dual microphones.
The Encore is also quite handy, weighing just 1.1 pounds though just for comparison’s sake, the new iPad Air with a bigger display is less than a pound in weight. There is also the Acer Iconia W4 tablet running Windows which too is a bit lighter than the Toshiba Encore. The Dell Venue 8 Pro which also features a similar setup of an 8 inch display, Intel Bay Trail chip and Windows 8.1 OS is lighter while being priced at the same $300. Another one to be compared with is the Miix2 from Lenovo. The 8 inch variant of the Miix 2 comes with an 8 inch display, run Windows 8.1, is based on an Intel Bay Trail chip, comes with 2 GB RAM and 32/64 GB memory and is still lighter than a pound. The Miix 2 is also priced at $299.
