Windows tablets - (Almost) All there is to know. Will you buy one ?

Posted by brrunoPT on September 30, 2012 01:28 pm 39

English is my 2nd language , take it easy ;)

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Update (01/Oct/2012)

-Added HP ElitePad 900

-Added images to the PDF version with links.

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Less than a month left for the release of Windows 8 and RT and a lot of windows tablets , do you expect to go get one ?

So far thats what we know about the devices:

via imageshack.us

PDF

Windows RT tablets (ARM):

General: will be pretty much like any other normal tablet , will be using the same type of hardware (Tegra 3 and Snapdragon CPU's) , have similar size and weight , storage , battery, cameras, connectivity (wi-fi , NFC, GPS, BT,3G/LTE, .....), max 2GB RAM (LPDDR2 ).

Battery: Support for "connected standby" mode => ultra low power idle mode, with a resume time <1seg.

Display: So far will all be between 10.1" and 10.6" and HD (1366*786) , but high quality (Super IPS+ , PLS, ... screens).

Keyboard: Most will have a removable keyboard . Some with an extra battery on it for extended battery life.

Pen: Some will also came whit a digitizer pen , so far seems that will all be from wacom.

The OS and applications:.Windows RT is basically the modern UI, sill keeps the desktop mode but only for "file explorer" and office (not a full office , but still a very good one). Only can run apps , don't support legacy programs.

Integration between you windows devices.

-Gaming: You can play the usual tablet-like games , but for instance Unreal managed to get the full Unreal Engine 3 on Windows RT , leaving the door open for some real gaming...

The far the windows store is having a good growth , have already passed the 2000 apps mark.

via i1-news.softpedia-static.com

Windows 8 Tablets (Atom)

General: Cameras , connectivity (wi-fi , NFC, GPS, BT,3G/LTE).

Power: Will powered by a Dualcore Atom Z2760 1.8Ghz CPU along with a PowerVR SGX545 GPU (no benchmarks yet), max 2GB RAM (LPDDR2) .

Display: So far will all be between 10.1" and 11.6" and with a HD (1366*786) resolution like Windows RT tablets , but high quality (Super IPS+, IPS , PLS, ... screens).

Size and weight: A little more thick and heavier than windows Rt tablets.

Storage : between 64GB and 128GB (+microSD confirmed in some).

Battery : Slightly inferior to windows RT tablets battery.

Support for "connected standby" mode => ultra low power idle mode, with a resume time <1seg.

Keyboard: Most will have a removable keyboard . Some with an extra battery on it for extended battery life.

Pen: Most will have whit a digitizer pen , so far seems that will all be from wacom.

The OS and applications: Full windows 8 , not only support the apps from windows store but also any windows programs/game (as long it has power for it ).

Integration between you windows devices.

Windows 8 Tablets (Ivy bridge)

General: Cameras , connectivity (wi-fi , NFC, GPS, BT,3G/LTE, ....).

Power: Will powered by Ivy bridge i3 , i5 & i7 (Real power) ; HD4000 GPU , enough to run some real games in good quality; 4/8GB RAM (DDR3L).

Display: Between 10.6" and 13.3" and mostly with FullHD (1920*1080) resolution and high quality (IPS , PLS, ... screens).

Size and weight: Reasonably more thick and heavier than the others.

Storage : between 64GB and 256GB

Battery : Way inferior to ARM and Atom tablets battery.

Keyboard: Part will have a removable keyboard (some with an extra battery on it for extended battery life), others will be convertibles with integrated keyboard (can't be removed)

Pen: Most will have whit a digitizer pen , so far seems that will all be from wacom.

The OS and applications: Full windows 8 , not only support the apps from windows store but also any windows program.

Integration between you windows devices.

Next generation:

Windows 8 Haswell (April - June 2013)

Known main differences:

Power: 2 categories , one with the actual 17W TDP with 2x the power of actual HD4000 GPU , and the other with a ~10W TDP and slightly better performance than the HD4000.

Battery: If they keep the same battery capacity/power the battery life will be close to the battery life of the Atom tablets.

Support for "connected standby" mode => ultra low power idle mode, with a resume time <1seg.

Windows 8 Atom Valley View (Q3 2013)

Known main differences:

Power: single, dual and quad-core 22n CPU's up to 2.4Ghz, 4x-7x GPU upgrade (4 core Ivy bridge GPU). Up to 8Gb RAM DDR3L (LPDDR2 for low end) and USB 3.0 support.

Windows RT (Others ????)

And i think theres also some upgrades from other ARM CPU producers to come.

For instance, back in April i remember a lot of talk about a future Tegra 4 coming by the end of the year , or Q1 2013 but since then didn't heard anything else.

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So , will you buy one ? witch or what category (RT , ATOM , Ivy)?

Or will you wait for the next generation ?