The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 is an Android tablet with an 8 inch, 2048 x 1536 pixel display and, an Intel Moorefield processor, and a starting price of $200.
Asus unveiled the tablet in June, and now it’s available from Best Buy and up for pre-order from other stores including B&H and Adorama.
This ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CÂ features an IPS display with wide viewing angles, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, stereo front-facing speakers, a microSDXC card reader, micro USB port, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 5MP rear camera and 2MP front camera.
The tablet ships with Android Lollipop software, and it’s powered by an Intel Atom Z3560 or Z3530 processor (some stores are showing one CPU while others show the other… but the Asus website says the tablet has the slightly less powerful Z3530 chip).
Update: Yep, Best Buy has the model with the Z3530 chip.
The chips are based on Intel’s Moorefield platform and are basically slightly cheaper versions of the chip used in the Asus Zenfone 2 smartphones I recently reviewed. It was remarkably fast for a smartphone that sells for under $300.
Asus also has a launching a cheaper model called the Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C soon. It has a 1280 x 800 pixel display, an Intel Atom x3-C3200 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a $130 price tag. You can pre-order that model from Adorama or B&H for $130, but if you’ve got a little extra money, the Z580C model seems like a much better deal.
Asus also plans to launch a higher-priced model of the ZenPad S 8.0 with up to 4GB of RAM, faster chips, USB Type-C connectors, and other premium features.
via Mike Cane (who also ran the Antutu benchmark on the tablet)
Any hope of hacking this and installing windows?
Brad, is this tablet 4:3 aspect ratio?
2048 x 1536 is 4:3
Looks good. I hope this gets a quick upgrade to Android M!
You can see the video review for this tablet on YouTube. The performance is worse than you may expected. Z3530 cannot handle the 2k display and the graphics quality is completely worse than other Asus tablet like memo pad 7 or 8. Be careful and considerate when choosing this tablet. Here is the link for you you: ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 (Z580C): Benchmarks & Gaming Pe…: https://youtu.be/UNtVXux97tk
Thanks for the video link. The YouTube title says it is about the ASUS model Z580C and the title in the actual video says it has the Z3530 Atom chip. Seeing this post, I also had concerns the device could not keep up with the hires display. I like what ASUS is doing here, but I think I would hold out for the more powerful model. Also, I am still leery of x86 on Android, but it’s getting better.
If it’s saving video to disk while playing then skipping is normal on most devices.
Here’s another review, using a camera to record instead of screen recording software.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9zpqPaHAjI
It looks powerful enough, but he does mention that the screen is rather dim.
I just got a 32gb nexus 7 lte off of eBay for $145, did I overpay?
Then again nexus 7 still has decent specs but this is much better
If you’re not a fan of bloatware, then no I think you’re fine (I had a ZF2 and couldn’t deal with all the extra apps). I’m still using my N7 2013, and I love that I get updates straight from Google.
You got a good deal.
It really looks like a good tablet. It’s too bad that I’m never buying another android device that comes pre-loaded with bloat and customizations, such as this one.
I fully agree. Anyone having app issues (Chrome etc) with the Asus Zenfone 2? I had lots of issues with my Dell Intel tablet.
Looks great. Between the ZenPhone, the C201 chromebook, and the upcoming eee 205 successor, Asus has been pushing the price/performance envelope.