Onkyo, whose sound systems are expensive in Australia compared with the US, has decided to jump into the tablet PC market with an 11.6″ Windows 7 based model that needs third party software to get the touch experience up to par with the iPad.

Ignoring the Android operating system for the Windows 7 offering, which is set to be slow when compared with the Apple iPad, the 11.6-inch TW317A7 has a 3G module for a broadband data connection and Intel’s 1.66GHz Atom CPU paired with 2GB of RAM.

Screen resolution is 1366 x 768. However the device only has a 1.3-megapixel camera.

In an effort to improve the poor performance of the Windows OS in the tablet environment Onkyo is set to use ExTOUCH software  to maximise the touch input experience, this involves a dedicated app launcher having to launch every time the tablet is fired up. Storage comes from a 32GB SSD, and both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are accounted for.

Rounding off the specs are a card reader, two USB 2.0 ports and stereo speakers. Pricing for the device and availability in Australia are unknown.

There is no information on what applications are available.