ASUS "ultra-budget" tablet leaked: Nexus 7 redux

With the ASUS-made Google Nexus 7 still selling like hotcakes here several months after its initial debut, a second "bargain basement" device appearing this week shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. This device goes by the code name ME371MG and comes with Intel inside instead of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 that comes with the Nexus 7. This means in this case that you'll be seeing a budget-friendly solution without a doubt, processor first.

In this case a single core really isn't going to be much compared to the four (plus 1) cores you'll get with the Tegra 3 on the Nexus 7. The Intel Atom Z2420 single-core processor has been tipped as running in this tablet somewhere between 1 and 2GHz clock speed. This processor exists thus far only in rather inexpensive devices made with low-cost parts in mind – and benchmarks have shown the processor to be nothing compared to multi-core processors across the board.

This tablet will be working with a 7-inch display with IPS LCD technology and a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Inside you'll find 1GB of RAM with options for for 8, 16, or 32GB of internal storage. This tablet will also come with a microSD card slot for memory expansion as well as Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box.

With a 3 megapixel camera on the back and a 1.2 megapixel camera on the front, this device will be ready for a market release across the world soon, but such "bonuses" above the Nexus 7 won't be enough to keep the first of two ASUS tablets at bay. If this is an attempt by ASUS to out-do the Google Nexus counterpart to this tablet, they've not done their job very well.

If on the other hand they're able to release this device for half the price of the Nexus 7, minds may change rather quickly. Stay tuned for more information on this "aluminum housed" tablet coming in rather rapidly!

[via Tablets BG]