Nvidia has raised the curtain on its new Shield Tablet K1 today, a follow up to the original K1 gaming oriented slate that arrive last year with bags of power. This time out Nvidia has trimmed some fat to achieve a very appealing cost of just $199, and for that you are really getting a lot of tablet and excellent gaming performance.

Compared to last year, the new slate is $100 cheaper than the original K1 although there are not huge changes here, so this sequel is really Nvidia cutting the price and adding some extras. The company has only launched a 16GB Wi-Fi model so far, but don’t be surprised to see a LTE version with more native storage arrive down the line.

Under the hood once again is Nvidia’s own Tegra K1 chipset, which is actually the same processor as last year, but don’t be put off by age as this is a blazing piece of silicon. The Tegra K1 is a 2.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU and a 192-core GeForce Kepler GPU that delivers huge benchmark scores, especially for gaming, which is what the Shield’s focus is on.

Other specs include 1920 by 1200 pixels 8-inch IPS screen, and it is hard not to argue for this as one of the best pound for pound tablets on the market, and almost a must if you are gaming oriented. The $199.99 price means some compromises have been made, such as the ShieldDirect Stylus 2 pen is now a $19.99 optional extra, while the device also ships without a charger.

Speaking of optional extras, there is a magnetic keyboard cover that costs $39.99, while the Nvidia gamepad will cost $59.99. We would say the gamepad is a solid investment as it really enhances the gaming experience offered by the Shield Tablet K1.