Dell XPS 10 Windows tablet up for pre-order, priced to match Microsoft’s Surface

Dell has placed its 10.1-inch Windows RT tablet, the XPS 10, up for pre-order through its website, where the price matches that of the Microsoft Surface. Anyone hoping to get one at the end of this month could be disappointed though.

Dell’s wide range of Windows 8 tablets and computers is baffling enough, without the company compounding the confusion by trickling out details on each one over an extended period of time, to the point where nobody knows what’s new and what’s already been announced.

The XPS 10 tablet seems to be a new model, but it has certainly been spotted before, as it’s included in our roundup of interesting Windows 8 tablets, however with a few key details missing. Dell has now filled in the blanks with a complete spec list and provided the all-important price tag too.

It’s an ARM-based tablet that uses a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, meaning it runs Windows RT, and has a 10.1-inch touchscreen with a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. The basic model comes with 32GB of internal memory, but you can pay more to take this to 64GB.

On the rear of the tablet is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, while a 2-megapixel camera with 720p video sits above the screen, plus other features include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a microSD card slot. The XPS 10 is compatible with Dell’s keyboard dock, which offers an almost full-size keyboard and a trackpad, plus another battery to keep things going.

Dell offers either a 32GB or 64GB XPS 10 tablet, and it will provide an option for 3G/4G connectivity later in the year or early next. The basic 32GB with Wi-Fi model costs $499 and it’ll be $599 for the 64GB version, although if you want the keyboard dock you’ll have to splash out $679 and $779 respectively.

The headline $499 price tag is the same as Microsoft will charge for its Windows RT Surface tablet, although Dell’s proper keyboard dock is slightly more expensive than the Touch Cover keyboard accessory.

You can pre-order the XPS 10 from Dell right now, and although some reports are saying the tablets have an October 26 release, Dell’s website is quoting a December 11 shipping date.