"A sort of PC": how Windows 8 will invade tablets (and why it might work)

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Varda, Aug 20, 2011.

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  1. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    I just read this article and I think it may interest some of you.

    http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...ll-invade-tablets-and-why-it-might-work.ars/1


    To me, stuff like this sounds really, really promising. I would never buy a tablet, simply because I am one of those people who would expect it to function as a laptop. But if microsoft actually pulls this off, i'd be tempted. What do you think?
     
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  3. francois Schwat? Registered Senior Member

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    I would definitely get one. The thing is this. In the coming years, there's going to be less and less difference between a laptop and a tablet. Laptops are getting ridiculously thin, and are getting touchscreens. Tablets are getting docking stations, so you can type and do work on them. The main difference is computer power. Laptops are full-powered systems. But tablets use tiny low-powered SOCs (system on a chip).

    Nvidia does the Tegra, which is an SOC, which is getting insanely powerful with every passing year. Look at what they have planned for it, relative to a Core2 Duo. Tegra3 (Kal-el), due out soon, is going to run Windows 8, and it's going to be freakin' powerful, and use extremely little power. Imagine a large Tegra3 tablet plugged into a docking station, running Windows 8, getting 33 hours of use in one charge. We're not talking about a wimpy computer, but a beast, too.

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  5. Varda The Bug Lady Valued Senior Member

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    And then you have the iPad, which is basically a toy. It's aimed at entertainment. If you need it for anything other than internet browsing, social networking, games, and video (netflix, hulu, etc), you're shit out of luck.

    So that brings the question in the article: why settle for the lesser device? Why get a toy when you can can have a PC with roughly the same interface as the toy?
     
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