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win8 atom

mtalinm

Active Member
sorry if this is old news but I keep wondering why MSFT can't ship a Surface with the RT hardware profile but running win8. and with the big disk...

that's basically what the Lenovo thinkpad tablet 2 is. which would actually be a better machine for me functionally but I am smitten by the Surface keyboards...

my best guess is tht they were truly building a "showcase" machine with thePro. maybe they will do the Surface Amateur soon :)
 

leeshor

Well-Known Member
I can give you one reason. How many tablets/laptops does Microsoft have? Now Lenovo? I'm not certain it would be wise for Microsoft to go whole hog on tablets or laptops.
 
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mtalinm

Active Member
yeahit's probably a channel conflict thing. OK for them to build a high-end tabby but steer clear of Lenovo's bread and butter...

thing is, Surface >> everything else...

hope someone fivures out how to run win8 (not just win8 apps) on the SRT. then I'll buy one
 

J515OP

Super Moderator
The other thing is that the RT tablet is a step into ARM territory. MS definitely would like to broaden its scope. You can make the argument that having an Atom processor which is Intel does them no good. As it is now they have a premium Intel chip and a premium ARM chip in each product which seems like a balanced approach. MS might be changing things a little but they are not Apple they don't do vertical product lines and have always relied and partners to fill the hardware front.

If you want a better Atom based tablets pressure the OEMs to make decent ones that you would spend your money on. I think the problem is going to be that the OEMs treat Atom tablets like netbooks though, in a race to the bottom. It is unfortunate since the Atom chips have made huge improvements but they are basically considered junk by most people from their previous experiences. That is probably enough to keep the OEMs from making a significant investment at that level and instead make "affordable" devices and we all know what that means.

The last nail in the coffin is going to be the power advancement in the newer Intel chips. With a significant boost in battery life the role of Atom becomes even less important. It is going to be hard to convince anybody to make a "premium" device from a "low end" chip particularly when it loses its only advantage (power) outside of price.
 
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