Microsoft showcases quad-core Windows 8 tablet

[Buzz_Dengue]

Microsoft showcases quad-core Windows 8 tablet. More details to follow soon
Author: Mike Andrew Filed under: NewsUpdated: August 29, 2011

Microsoft is starting to get serious about Windows 8, as more official info is revealed each week, starting with the Operating System new features and ending with showcasing new products for developers to drool upon. I know sometimes I seem mean, but how else you would call showing an extremely thin quad-core Windows 8 tablet at Tech Ed event in New Zealand.

And what’s worse is the fact Microsoft didn’t slipped any other info on that, except it’s a quad-core model, leaving us with nothing else than trying to figure out what’s going on under that slim case. Our best guess is the quad-core Nvidia Kal-El [read more about it], which makes sense, since Windows 8 will run on ARM devices like the Tegra 3 SoC (System on a Chip). I don’t see Intel and AMD making chips for tablets that fit into a such small chassis, and Qualcomm and TI have their quad core ARM chips in development at this point, with delivery scheduled for early 2012. So Nvidia remains the only choice right now.

Those attending the conference reported Microsoft having said it will offer free samples to developers present at the Build conference in September, but I find this unlikely for one reason: Windows 8 is still in development process and lot of work remains to be done, so I doubt Microsoft has fully working samples at this point (both hardware and software). So a lot of things can change until Microsoft releases the first Beta of Windows 8, which I hope happens early in 2012.

Future quad-core tablets will be really thin
Anyway, speaking of things that can change, there are some new touch patents filed by Microsoft (not granted yet) that show a really interesting array of ways to control next year’s tablets via touch including gestures that start on the screen bezel (Blackberry Playbook style), radial menus and bezel gestures, multi-finger gestures and some others involving dual screen devices. Microsoft is really stepping up the game here and I can really see them as a tablet player in late 2012, early 2013, don’t you think?

Microsoft showcases quad-core Windows 8 tablet. More details to follow soon