Dell Introduces Venue Line of Tablets

At a company event in New York City today, Dell formally introduced its Venue line of tablet devices.  Four initial models -- the Venue 7, Venue 8, Venue 8 Pro, and Venue 11 Pro -- make up the 2013 portfolio.  All Venue models are powered by Intel processors, though the OS duty is evenly split between Android Jellybean and Windows 8.1.

The company is betting that fans of the corporate brand will add tablets to their device mix of Dell desktops, laptops, and 2-in-1's.  One way the company is gluing the value of different devices together is through bundling its PocketCloud application with the Venue tablets.  PocketCloud allows users to access content and files remotely by creating their own personal cloud service.  The PocketCloud app was developed by the Dell Wyse business unit.

An active stylus for handwriting, annotation and drawing is available optionally for the Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro slates.  Keyboards, docks and other peripherals are offered for all Venue models.

Pricing for the Venue tablets is certainly one of the announcement's highlights.  The Android tablets both come in under $200 with models starting at $150 for 7" and $180 for 8".  The Pro models running Windows 8.1 start at $300 for 8" and $500 for 11".  Retail availability of the Venue tablets starts with select models in October and the full family by November.