$500 Asus VivoTab Smart goes up for pre-order

The Asus VivoTab Smart, which runs Windows 8, has gone up for pre-order at J&R and Abt.

With a starting price of $500, the tablet boasts some pretty sweet specs indeed, including a 10-inch display, an Intel Atom Clover Trail processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

As Liliputing’s Brad Linder notes, at $500, the x86-powered VivoTab Smart is actually cheaper than the Asus VivoTab RT – a $500 Windows RT tablet equipped with an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and an included keyboard dock.

Additional specs include a 1366 x 768 pixel screen, PowerVR SGX 545 graphics, an 8MP rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, micro HDMI port, micro USB port, micro SD card reader and an 8.5 hour battery.

Unfortunately, Asus does not offer a keyboard for the VivoTab Smart, although you can pair the device with a Bluetooth ‘board/cover. Then again, the VivoTab Smart, unlike the its VivoTab RT counterpart, can also run apps designed for a full-fledged version of Windows (7 and 8).

It should be noted that Asus also offers another VivoTab model with an 11.6 inch display, digital pen and optional keyboard – all for a starting price of $800.