Acer Iconia W3 First 8-Inch Windows 8 Tablet $379

The Acer Iconia W3 is the First 8-Inch Windows 8 Tablet
It is selling for $379

At a fast glance, it may resemble an iPad mini. It weighs 1.10 pounds. You can easily hold it in one hand. It's 0.45 inches thick and the 8.1" screen has a resolution of 1280 x 800. This tablet is rated for approximately 8 hrs of battery life because it's powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor.

Will this device feel like a netbook when you use it with an external keyboard? Remember that most netbooks have an average display size that is 10" so the 8.1" display on the Iconia W3 will feel a bit smaller than a netbook. The flip side is that the external keyboard that you use with this type of device will probably have full-size keys. But, the keyboard sold by Acer does not include a built-in mouse pointer.

Rumors have it that most other major PC manufacturers will be releasing smaller Windows 8 tablets. Microsoft is rumored to be releasing a smaller Surface tablet. Will the screen be 7" or 8"? I suspect HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and others will do something similar this summer.

I'm still waiting to see if the battery life claims of the new Intel Haswell Core processors will be true. 50% longer battery life on a Core i7 tablet sure would be nice.

8" tablets running Windows 8 are coming soon

These days, some may argue that the 8" tablet is the "perfect" size. It fits easily into a white coat pocket if you're a medical student or doctor. You can usually hold it in one hand. It's fairly light. If you own an iPad mini, you're probably using that more than your regular iPad because it's smaller, but not too small.

We can expect to see some Windows 8 tablets on 8" form factors soon. The Iconia W3 Windows 8 tablet from Acer might be one of the first ones to hit the market. This is an 8.1" tablet that will run Windows 8 Pro on an Atom processor. The screen resolution is 1,280 x 768 (or maybe 1,280 x 800?) and you can expect all-day battery life at approximately 8 hrs.

How many 8" tablets running Windows 8 will we see this summer?