Intel is offering more specifics on the features of future Windows 8 tablets at a conference in Beijing. It's a laudable goal, but can Intel make it happen this year?
Intel "Clover Trail" Atom Z2760-based Windows 8 tablet
(Credit: Brooke Crothers)
Underneath the glass will be an Atom Z2760 "Clover Trail" chip: dual-core capable, with burst mode (for quick bursts of performance when needed) and Hyper-Threading — the latter allows a dual-core chip to behave in a quad-core fashion in some cases.
Plenty of features are in the pipeline.
(Credit: Intel)
Two basic tablet designs
The tablets themselves, as proposed by Intel, fall into two basic sizes: pure 10-inch tablets and hybrid 11-inch designs with physical keyboards.
Battery life
The battery life will be more than nine hours. That's just on paper of course, so final products will tell the real story.
3G/4G
This is a must for tablets, of course. Intel bought the wireless business of a little chip company called Infineon, so it can supply its own silicon here, if necessary.
Weight/thickness
Under 680 grams — no surprise here. The gen-3 iPad is 652 grams, by the way. Thickness, as proposed, is under 9mm. Again, as a yardstick, the gen-3 iPad is 9.4mm.
Miscellaneous
NFC (near-field communication) and Wi-Fi Direct.
Conclusion
All of the above is predicated on Windows 8 being commercially released in the second half of the year. That seems to be the plan.
Intel is pretty adept at getting its satellite of customers and partners to make things happen, so it should be an interesting Q3 for tablets.
Via CNET
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