Acer Iconia W700 Windows 8 tablet hits October 26 from $800

Acer's Windows 8 tablet, the Iconia W700, will hit shelves on October 26 the company has confirmed, one of the first slates to run Microsoft's new platform. Announced back at Computex, the Iconia W700 has an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS LCD touchscreen, with a choice of Ivy Bridge based Intel Core i3 or i5 processors lurking inside.

There's also WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5-megapixel main camera good for 1080p HD on the back. USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt is also onboard, and Acer will throw in an HDMI-to-VGA adapter if you're not quite up to speed with the latest display connectivity. Storage is either a 64GB or 128GB SSD.

However, it's the cradle which is perhaps most eye-catching, Acer's asymmetrical design making slotting the W700 in straightforward, and opening up plenty of extra ports. It'll also recharge the battery, which Acer says is good for eight hours of runtime.

Pricing will begin at $799.99 for the Core i3 model, rising to $999.99. More on the Acer Iconia W700 in our full hands-on.