Windows 8, Intel Atom SoC Will Be iPad Killer

Informationweek ^ | June 04, 2012 | George Ou

[SmokingJoe]

When Intel announced its Windows 8 Tablet check list running on a soon-to-be-released Intel Atom Z2760 dual-core System on Chip (SoC), the reaction was mild enthusiasm with a healthy dose of skepticism. Intel said that Intel Windows 8 tablets would come with 10- or 11-inch screens, measure less than 9 mm thick, weigh less than 1.5 lbs, and offer more than nine hours of battery. The typical reaction was disbelief because no Intel notebook or netbook has ever come close to being as thin and light as an iPad with the battery life of an iPad.

Conventional wisdom among tech pundits held that Intel can't match tablets running ARM architecture processors because Intel had never delivered anything close to such a product. Intel-based Microsoft Tablet PCs were too heavy at over three pounds, too expensive with prices between $1,000 and $3,000, too short on battery life, and too inconvenient with an OS that had to be shut down or suspended. With Intel and Microsoft having a miserable 11-year track record in the tablet computing space and the fact that not much was known about the mystery Intel Atom Z2760 "Clover Trail" processor, all the skepticism was warranted.

Now that we can actually see hands-on product videos of the Acer Iconia W510 ($400 to $800 range) transformable tablet with 18 hours battery life in docked mode, it's clear that Intel was not bluffing. PC World reports that the Iconia uses an Intel SoC. That makes sense given the fact that there is no way a full-size notebook chip can even fit into a 9-mm-thin detachable chassis that also has to accommodate an LCD panel and achieve phenomenal battery life.

[PreciousLiberty]

“Windows 8 tablets/hybrids won’t take too long to outsell Android tablets, mostly because Windows 8 hybrids will run the over 6 million Windows 7 programs from the get go in Desktop mode.”

Of course, the number of people interesting in running “Desktop” anything on a tablet is probably around 1%... Also reflect that the experience isn’t going to be the best given the limited processor power and especially memory on these tablets.

“Outselling the iPad is another matter altogether. That is going to take quite a while.”

It’s going to take quite a while for the Win8 pads to have anything like the selection of tablet apps that the iPad enjoys. I will be interested to see how the next generation ARM chips stack up against Atom. NVIDIA also has an initiative going to develop 64 bit ARM CPUs for everything from notebooks to supercomputers.

Competition is good, and will continue to spur innovation and affordability.

[PreciousLiberty]

"Windows 8 IS considerably faster on the same hardware, than Windows 7."

Didn't you mean to say the current Windows 8 beta is faster? I hadn't heard that Win8 is released...

We'll see how things shake out when the final release ships.

[Dan Nunn]

Maybe I've been following tech for too long but I remember

Every one of your examples is part of the Pre-Steve Jobs era, but you make an important point. His existence has passed but his legacy will hopefully live on much longer than it did after 1985. There were very few failures (but they did exist! See the G4 Cube) during his second tenure and the wild following can be partially credited for that. Without him at the helm, it does become more likely that one of these "killers" does indeed come to surpass Apple.

But, in my opinion, it won't be for at least the next 3-5 years, so anyone claiming that they are releasing a "killer" will be the subject of eye-rolling, at least until the first one that succeeds.

By the way, I really love Microsoft's innovation with Windows Phone and hope it does become the #2 OS in the mobile market.

[SmokingJoe]

“That’s true...overheating issues with the Xbox have firmly established it as a pile of junk in many folk’s minds
The PS3, with Blu-ray and free network play, is a much better idea. :-)”

Is that why the XBOX 360 has oustold the PS3 every month in the US for over two straight years in the monthly NPD tally’s, and the 360 is currently cruhing the Wii in sales as well, and has been doing that for over a year?

“For folks who don’t mind a kid-styled toy in their video room, the Xbox might be a fine option - if the PS3 didn’t exist.”

Chuckle!
Nearly every single major AAA hardcore game has sold more on the 360 than on the PS3. You name them...COD MW, COD MW2, COD MW3, COD BLOPS, Skyrim, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier etc.

[kevkrom]

You are naive and behind the times to think only Apple produces very good computers.

You are a dishonest tool. I never said anything to that effect and your personal animus toward Apple products makes you argue like a liberal -- by making things up to discredit your (perceived) opposition).

Dell and HP have caught up on laptops

Really? Same or better power, weight, screen resolution (and quality), and battery life? For a significantly lower price?

Dell, HP, and the others also make notebooks in the $1500+ range? Why, if a $400 McPC will do the job? Because there's a market for high-end machines, and it's profitable enough to pursue. You know, that whole free market thing.

And, unlike you, I'm not an OS bigot. I actually own a "McPC" desktop, running Windows 7, for the kids to play educational games on. Why would I buy a premium computer (Mac or PC) for that? But for real work, I far prefer my iMac to an "equivalent" PC, especially for the desktop publishing work I need to do. If I needed a laptop, I'd be getting a premium-end model because I will need it to do more than just surf the web or lightweight word processing, and I will need the battery life to actually get work done away from a power outlet for hours at a time. That $400 piece of plastic junk that Best Buy is selling won't cut it.

[WMarshal]

Both ipad and iphone should have an infrared LED in them to expand their use as tv remote controls.

I have been wanting that for two years! They would decimated the Universal TV remote business. The only way a player in that industry could survive is if they switched to creating an iPhone/iPad app.

[SmokingJoe]

“Didn't you mean to say the current Windows 8 beta is faster?”

Yes. The link I provided makes that clear. Plus it points out that even the drivers they are using have not been optimized for Windows 8 yet, plus Windows 8 code has still not been finalized yet, so they expect Windows 8 to be even faster when its finally released with proper Windows 8 drivers.

[RinaseaofDs]

A tablet is a tablet, and a PC is a PC. They may both have computers in them, but they do different things.

Every college in the country is ready to ditch printed textbooks in favor of issuing tablets to every student. School districts are leaning that way too, and for the first time I’m not sure I disagree with that strategy.

The e-texts that are coming out are incredible, and it doesn’t make sense to kill trees to produce textbooks any more. The price of a textbook can come WAY down, since the only production costs remaining would be the actual IP and the book layout. Manufacturing and distribution costs come down to zero.

Microsoft would be fiduciarily irresponsible if the DIDN’T go into that market.

Add to that the Ipad blows on so many different levels, not the least of which is the unbelievable cost of them. It’s funny to watch liberals attack Apple now that their god is dead. Jobs sole claim to fame was making middling technology available to the idiotic. He made the ordinary feel extraordinary, and I’m not taking anything away from that feat.

On the way to doing that, he abandoned children, treated employees like slaves, outsourced every job he could, ran his company like a quasi-criminal operation, and gave nothing back to anyone for any reason.

On the left, he’s the second coming of Christ.

[PreciousLiberty]

“Is that why the XBOX 360 has oustold the PS3 every month in the US for over two straight years in the monthly NPD tally’s, and the 360 is currently cruhing the Wii in sales as well, and has been doing that for over a year?”

You’re conflating popularity with quality. Chevy sells a lot more cars than Porsche too... PS3 sales are doing quite well from what I’ve heard.

I will say that Microsoft was smart to make Xbox programming similar to Windows programming. Software development has been tough slogging for the PS3.

Rumor has it that PS4 will more resemble a traditional computer, and will have a more traditional OS, probably POSIX. In fact, such a move would make it easier to port between PS4 and MacOS/iOS - a win for both companies.

“Chuckle!
Nearly every single major AAA hardcore game has sold more on the 360 than on the PS3. You name them...COD MW, COD MW2, COD MW3, COD BLOPS, Skyrim, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier etc.”

And the majority of folks playing those games are in what age group? LOL

Price is certainly a major factor in sales volume, and if there’s one thing the Xbox is, it’s cheap. :-)

[ClayinVA]

Tivo and Dish have a remote control app for both IOS and Android. It works pretty well, but normally it is easier to just pickup the remote.

[PreciousLiberty]

"Add to that the Ipad blows on so many different levels, not the least of which is the unbelievable cost of them."

Er, what competing product of similar hardware spec has sold for less? Not to mention the added value of iOS which by all accounts is both simpler to use and more polished than the competition...

Actually Apple has been killing the competition on price, and yet is still making better margins as it is now buying in major volume. For instance, Apple is now the #1 consumer worldwide of flash memory. Think that conveys much bargaining leverage? ;-)

In short, you're mistaken.

[SmokingJoe]

“You’re conflating popularity with quality. Chevy sells a lot more cars than Porsche too... “

Yeah..like the iPhones sells more than the Samsung Galaxys (in the US anyways) which are superior to the iPhones.

“PS3 sales are doing quite well from what I’ve heard”

PS3 sales are ok, especially in Japan where the PS3 vastly outsells the 360. Thee US (which is a bigger console video games market than Japan) is another matter altogether.

“And the majority of folks playing those games are in what age group? LOL”

You'd be surprised..most are adults with good full time jobs and a fair amount of disposable income. You may need to check up on the stats for XBOX LIve users. Live is easily the best video game console online system by some distance.

[PreciousLiberty]

“$399 at Best Buy this week HP Pavilion g7-1338dx laptop

4-way processing, “

According to the reviews, it is only a dual core CPU. Best Buy should include the number of cores in the specs. I believe that all the i3 models are dual core though.

It also only has the integrated HD3000 graphics, which are OK for light use, but not for most modern games or GPU computing. I think the latest AMD based laptops in the lower price bracket are a better buy for most folks.

It’s also worth noting that BB is blowing those out because of the new Ivy Bridge based systems that are coming soon.

[Swordmaker]

Maybe I've been following tech for too long but I remember Bill Gates loaning Apple money because they were going broke, I remember the first apple tablet that was a miserable failure, I remember the best music playing software in the business slowing getting usurped by inferior products. I remember superior hardware being eclipsed by inferior hardware. The most important thing to remember through all this is that just because a company is in the lead at the moment, and just because they have the best technology, does not mean they will have either next month.

You remember wrongly. Bill Gates loaned Apple nothing! Instead, Microsoft, as part of a settlement of a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by Apple, agreed to buy $150,000,000 of preferred, non-voting stock in Apple, license from Apple for five years for an undisclosed yearly royalty the disputed patents, commit to continue developing AND marketing Office for Mac for those same five years, and cede to Apple licenses to unnamed patents and copyrights for the life of each copyright and patent! In exchange, Apple agreed to drop the lawsuit, license the disputed patents, issue the preferred stock, and include Microsoft Explorer as a browser with Apple MacOS on all new Macs for five years as an optional installed browser along with Netscape Navigator! At the time of the settlement Apple was in the black, had had a profitable quarter, and had over $2 Billion in liquid assets and cash. Looking at the lopsided settlement, it's obvious who blinked in the lawsuit.

The Newton PDA could hardly be called a "miserable failure" as its product line contined for five years, produced seven Apple Newton models, and seven clone models from various manufacturers, only to be killed by Steve Jobs when he returned to the helm of Apple and wanted to streamline the company's focus.

There are many who still consider the iTunes line (on the Mac) and the iPods to be the best in each category. If you've never used an iPod touch, you don't know how good a player can be or how easy to use. Combine the Newton and the iPod and you get both the iPhone and the iPad. As for other "inferior hardware" many pundits and reviewers have claimed the best Windows machines they have used are Apple Macs booted into Windows or running Windows in a sandboxed virtual machine.

[RinaseaofDs]

Samsung is making better tablets, and their supply chain is rock solid. Android’s open system will eventually wreck iOS which is a repeat of the mistake that French engineer cum marketing idiot made when the Mac was the ‘next big thing’.

I noticed that Oracle is caving on the Cloud. Oracle was right to buck the cloud. That’s a stupid idea too.

The idea that someone would voluntarily hand either Apple or Google all of their contacts so that they can do anything they want with them is tragic and stupid. Only slightly stupider is spending hours a day on a Facebook account handing a 28 year old billionaire thousands of dollars worth of personal information on you and your family and friends for nothing so he can make billions more selling it to marketing departments all over the world.

John Sculley couldn’t save Apple either. Tim Cook won’t either. They have plenty of money, but Apple was a one man show. Apple’s coming out with a TV now. Breaking new ground?

I said Facebook was going down four years ago. I said five years ago that if Jobs ever died, Apple would eventually die with him.

While SaaS will most certainly survive as a business model, the cloud won’t - precisely because it’s a four-year old idea on how to get morons to volunteer their private information AND pay a monthly rental fee for the privelege of being exploited.

Defendant’s attorney: “You claim you had a reasonable expectation of privacy in using Google Apps.”

Plaintiff: “I did.”

Defendant’s attorney: “Yet you read and understood the license agreement and privacy policy.”

Plaintiff: “I did not.”

Defendant’s attorney: “Yet you checked this little box that said you did. . . . “

What the left admired about Jobs was the utter size of his balls in doing the things he did with such impunity.

Have you heard about, read about anywhere, or seen any sort of profile on any of the designers or engineers working at Apple? No Nathan Myrvhold analogs, no more Wozniaks after he left. It was all about Jobs.

[AFreeBird]

IPad In-House app distribution

[PreciousLiberty]

"Yeah..like the iPhones sells more than the Samsung Galaxys (in the US anyways) which are superior to the iPhones."

While they may have superior hardware specs (barely, and for a few months at most), they run the inferior Android OS. A bit like a souped up Chevy Camaro versus a stock Porsche Cayman. Possibly faster, but definitely not as refined or luxurious.

"PS3 sales are ok, especially in Japan where the PS3 vastly outsells the 360. Thee US (which is a bigger console video games market than Japan) is another matter altogether."

Total worldwide sales is the bottom line, and while Xbox's recent price cuts have produced a sales spike, PS3 is doing just fine:

We'll see how things evolve after the next rumored PS3 price cut.

"You'd be surprised..most are adults with good full time jobs and a fair amount of disposable income. You may need to check up on the stats for XBOX LIve users. Live is easily the best video game console online system by some distance."

There are plenty of adult gamers, but that doesn't change the fact that the majority are 21 or less years of age. I'd like to see a breakdown of Xbox versus PS3 purchases where the primary user is over 25.

[SamAdams76]

Does anybody remember the Zune? That was the much ballyhooed “iPod killer” that Microsoft came out with some years back. I think they ended up with something like a 0.7% market share and the only place you can get one now is on eBay.

[longtermmemmory]

I know more than a few business users who would like to have a windows tablet that works sealessly with MS Office which is what the vast majority of business people use.

Win 8 is suppposed to be cross platform. phone tablet desktop.

supposed to be.

It is a royal annoyance to have a ipad, android phone, and desktop computer. Anyone watching the bottom line has no desire to be trapped in an overpriced closed environment.

[longtermmemmory]

where did those numbers come from?

from outside the USA iphones are usually reported as NOT having the market dominance.