Dell launched its Venue 8 Pro 5000 Windows tablet back in 2014 when Microsoft was making a big push to get its OS into low-cost mobile devices. It was priced from $249.99, with specs that matched its modest price point. The company gave its bigger sibling, the Venue 10 Pro, a performance bump last fall, and now it’s finally set its sights on putting a little more “Pro” into the 8-inch model.

Primarily, the Venue 8 Pro 5000 receives a processor update from an older Intel Atom chip to the new quad-core x5-Z8500, but higher-end configurations receive other upgrades. The base configuration, for instance, retains the 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, and 1,280×800 screen resolution the 5000 series sported as of last summer, but the mid-tier edition sees its onboard storage bumped to 64GB. The top model also sees its RAM doubled to 4GB and its display receives the full HD treatment (1,920×1,200).

All versions of the 8 Pro 5000 series ship with Windows 10 Pro, but you can slash $50 off the price by downgrading to Windows 10 Home. The refreshed tablet also includes higher-resolution cameras (2-megapixel front-facing and 5-megapixel rear-facing) and the addition of a USB Type C port, micro SIM card slot and NFC support.

With the new improvements comes a new — and higher — price tag. The base configuration now costs $349 — roughly $100 more than the original iteration. From there the step-up version with 64GB of storage runs $399, and the top model with HD screen and 4GB of RAM costs $449. The price increase is tied not only to the better specs, but may also be part of Dell’s attempt to market it to enterprises, which aren’t always quite as cost conscious as consumers and seem to have more interest in tablets than many consumers these days.

[Via Windows Central]

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