Gigabyte intros Windows 8 tablets, one with HD screen and Ivy Bridge

Gigabyte has unveiled a couple of new Windows 8 tablets at CES that don't seem destined to shake up the industry, but still manage to differentiate themselves. First up, the S1185 is equipped with an 11.6-inch 1920x1080 IPS display, an Ivy Bridge-based ULV Core processor, 2, 4 or 8GB of RAM,  a 64, 128 or 256GB SSD, a 5MP camera in back and a 1.3MP up front, and a 400mAh battery that offers up to eight hours of run time.

Although it obviously ships with Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro and its newfangled touch interface, the S1185 has an optical finger navigation nub and mouse buttons on opposite ends of the device for when you're using the classic desktop. Like Microsoft's Surface, Gigabyte's offering has a built-in kickstand and a magnetically attachable dock with a keyboard and touchpad in the event that you want a laptop-like experience.

The device also carries dual 1.5W speakers and plenty of connectivity, including one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, VGA and HDMI ports, a microSD card reader, a SIM card slot, audio jacks, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0+LE and 3.5G WWAN. It weighs about 2.2lbs and the keyboard dock adds a pound, while it measures 11.7 x 7.2 x 0.53in -- reasonably thin and light. Units should ship in March for $1,000, plus $100 for the dock.

Meanwhile, Gigabyte's S1082 seems like it would be a decent business slate, packing a 10.1-inch 1366x768 touchscreen, a dual-core Celeron 847, up to 8GB of RAM, up to a 500GB hard drive or as much as 256GB of flash storage, gigabit Ethernet, an extended battery that pushes the run time to 12 hours and a multimedia docking station that provides a DVD burner, an improved audio system as well as extra connectivity.

The device has the same optical trackpoint and mouse buttons as the S1185 as well as a clunkier looking keyboard add-on, which is separate from the multimedia dock. Besides Ethernet, I/O looks to be on par with the S1185 as well. The S1082 weighs 1.74lbs with an SSD or a tad more with an HDD and it's 0.58in thick. We haven't seen pricing for just the tablet, but with the extra battery and keyboard it'll go for $649 next month.