ASUS Windows 8 tablet pricing kind of leaked

Pricing of ASUS' upcoming Windows 8 tablets have surfaced on the web.The Windows RT based Vivo Tab RT is rather expensive, pricing starts at $599 for this Tegra 3 based slate with a 10.1" IPS screen. If you want the optional, Transformer-style keyboard dock you'll have to shelve out $798, considerably more than what you pay for a decent budget notebook.

A step higher in the hierarchy is the Vivo Tab, this x86 Windows 8 tablet uses the Intel Atom Z2760 processor and comes with a larger 11.6" IPS screen. Pricing starts at $799 and jumps another $199 if you want a keyboard dock.

Next is the Taichi, this notebook+tablet model features two 11.6" IPS screens with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. It comes with Bang & Olufsen IcePower audio technology, an Ivy Bridge processor, and an unknown amount of flash storage. The pricing of this dual-screen tablet is $1,299.

These prices seem to be more expensive than the $300 to $700 range that Steve Ballmer hinted at for Microsoft's own Surface tablets. At $700 and more it makes a lot more sense to go for a budget laptop rather than an overpriced Atom-based tablet.