Hail Cesium! A Windows 8.1 tablet at an affordable price

At just €130 -- about £105 or $170 -- the Archos 80 Cesium is a wallet-friendly 8-inch Windows tablet.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

Aug. 26, 2014 9:41 a.m. PT

Everybody knows Windows on your PC. But the Windows tablet hasn't taken off, certainly when compared to Apple's iPad. French manufacturer Archos thinks the answer to that might be knocking the price down -- enter the Archos 80 Cesium tablet.

On sale in October, the 80 Cesium will cost just €130 in Europe, £130 in the UK, and $150 in the US.

There's no official photo yet, but we do know the 80 Cesium boasts an 8-inch screen with a resolution of 1,280x800 pixels, which is between HD and full HD. Under the screen is an Intel quad-core processor. It runs Windows 8.1, the latest version of Microsoft's venerable operating system.

The 80 Cesium Windows tablet joins the new 40 Cesium smartphone , which runs Microsoft's Windows Phone software. Windows Phone and Windows for tablets are different operating systems, but they have various apps and services in common, such as the OneDrive cloud storage service offered to anyone buying a Windows or Windows Phone device.

Also announced alongside the Windows gadgets are the 50b Platinum smartphone and 101 Oxygen tablet , both running Android. The new devices will be on show for the first time next week at IFA, the annual technology trade show in Berlin, so full specs, prices and release dates are expected to be confirmed then. We'll be there in force to bring you the first pictures, videos and hands-on first impressions of the coolest kit heading your way by the end of the year.