Dell Drops Standalone XPS 10 Windows RT Tablet, Now Only Available with Keyboard

Sales of Surface RT devices running the Windows RT platform have been giving Microsoft headaches, lately. The reaction from device makers has been varied – some have pushed the devices to the back burner and seem to be waiting to see how things play out before investing more in the scaled-back Windows sibling. Dell took an entirely different approach on Friday, bundling a keyboard with its Dell XPS 10 Tablet.

Dell XPS 10 tablet with keyboard and Windows RT

Apparently, Dell is banking on the XPS giving customers a better experience when paired with the keyboard and touchpad. What makes the move noteworthy is that it raises the price of the tablet. If you were to buy the tablet by itself, you’d pay $299, but the cheapest XPS RT system now is $479.99. It includes the keyboard and has 32 or 64GB of built-in storage, depending on the model you choose. Bundling a tablet with a keyboard makes sense – it makes the tablet more accessible to many users and it differentiates the tablet from the iPad.