Comment by nextparadigms | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nextparadigms | Hacker News Reader

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According to TIMN it's running an Intel Core i5. Wow. Seriously? I realize this is just a developer preview device, but if Windows 8 needs that kind of power, then what about ARM tablets that are supposed to compete with iPad? How will it run on them? And how much battery life will it have on those Intel-powered tablets? These questions are all unanswered and Engadget didn't even touch on any of them.

"All of the above sections should give you a solid look at what Windows 8 is shaping up to be, but what about the hardware? While we got a look at the OS running on a few laptops and all-in-ones during the press preview meeting, we’ve spent most of the time testing the OS on the prototype tablet. Powered by a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M processor and a 64GB solid state drive, the system is absolutely no slouch on performance — everything from scrolling in the browser to the Start screen is extremely speedy and the system boots incredibly quickly. However, fan noise is very noticeable, as is the heat coming out of the top vent, and a fast boot doesn’t excuse the slow wake-up times compared to ARM-based cellphones and tablets."

http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/13/windows-8-tablet-photos-v...

These questions aren't unanswered; Windows 8 has been demoed on many ARM devices now, and the build conference demos show specifically how tuned for power usage it is. The new kernel is very much focused on power management.

They also showed ARM devices from NVIDIA, Samsung, and Qualcomm running the same build of Windows 8 with no problems.

These are developer devices - meant for compiling code. Therefore, they are high powered, chock full of every hardware feature that Win 8 will support, so that devs can play around with them, compile code and use them as their primary machine. This is a desktop replacement machine for development, not an iPad replacement.

What? You are suggesting that people develop on the tablet? That is not how it works for iOs, BB, Palm or Android,

Windows 8 isn't iOS, BB, Palm, or Android. What they're trying to show is that Windows 8 can be the OS on your desktop, your laptop, and your tablet. Microsoft has made it clear that they still consider tablets to be PCs, even if the primary input methods are different.

In reality, the gap between Arm and x86 isn't all that big.

You are used to seeing Arm in phones, designed for power efficiency and slim profile. There are also tablets, which have more powerful Arm systems. However, batteries make up the bulk of these devices. They trick you in this respect. You are used to Arm being 'lite' and 'low profile'.

Then we have x86 systems. You are used to seeing these in desktops, that use hundreds of watts. In laptops, these can get much better efficiency. The problem is most laptops only have small batteries. x86 compilers have also evolved over a much longer time, so they are more efficient in their job. So you are used to x86 being 'bulky' and 'powerful'.

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