Remember that sleek AT200 tablet Toshiba announced at last year's IFA conference in Berlin but never actually made it to market? Well, the company is kicking off its CES announcements today by re-announcing the 10.1-inch tablet while giving it an official commercial name: the Excite X10.
The device is incredibly thin at 7.7mm (about a mm slimmer than the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab) and features an aluminum back that's more attractive than the glossy, smudge-prone plastic that envelopes many existing tablets. Its Corning Gorilla Glass covered IPS panel provides wide viewing angles and a native 1280 x 800 resolution, while processing is taken care of by a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430. Back in September this was touted as superior to Nvidia's Tegra 2 but we'll have to see how it holds up next to quad-core Tegra 3 tablets.
In terms of connectivity you can expect 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, as well as micro-sized USB, HDMI and SD ports in order to maintain a slender profile. Other features include DLNA support, GPS and built-in compass, dual HD Cameras (2MP front, 5MP back) with 1080p video capture and stereo speakers with SRS. At least initially, there won't be any mobile broadband connectivity options for this tablet.
Toshiba says it expects to ship the Excite X10 with Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" when the device hits the market sometime around mid Q1 2012. It will come in 16GB and 32GB capacities for $529 and $599, respectively. This will be the company's premium tablet offering, while the existing Toshiba Thrive will remain their 'mainstream' option starting at $380 for 8GB, $400 for 16GB, and $480 for 32GB. Toshiba is also launching a 4G AT&T HSPA+ option for the 16GB Thrive at CES for $480 – no contract required.
In addition to its new 10-inch tablet, Toshiba will also be showing off the Portégé Z835 Ultrabook at CES. The 13.3-inch laptop features a 1366x768 matte display, second-generation Intel Core processors and integrated Intel graphics, 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM, a full-sized backlit and spill resistant keyboard, three USB ports (one USB 3.0), HDMI and VGA-out, Wi-Fi, and WiDi. Pricing starts at just $819 on ToshibaDirect.com.