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Comment by JoelSutherland | Hacker News Reader

Why would they build a Windows RT tablet? Intel now makes price/performance/power-competitive x86 chips that can run full Windows.

Microsoft only made Windows RT as a hedge against another Intel mobile failure and as a way to push developers to make WinRT apps.

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There are ARM SoCs with a max power draw of 1W — lowest Intel product I can find is 3.5W and idles around where the ARM SoCs are at full load, and has other things external to the CPU that will draw power (memory for a start) which are included on the SoC.

> Intel now makes price/performance/power-competitive x86 chips that can run full Windows.

They do? Where's the evidence?

Intel Medfield idles at 2.6 Watts and peaks at 3.7 Watts. The Windows 8 tablets will be using its successor, Clover Trail. there are roughly 40 tablets that will launch with it.

Intel isn't efficient enough for phones (see the comment below about the 1W tdp ARM SoCs) but they are efficient enough for tablets. Every report indicates they are price competitive as well.

Additionally, Clover Trail is being printed at 32nm vs. Krait's 28nm. It was just announced that Intel is going to bump up their timeline and move their Atom SoCs to 22nm next year.

It's not like Intel is destroying ARM by any means. They are barely keeping up. But that's HUGE on Windows where you have decades of legacy x86 apps that you might want to run.

This is all Intel vaporware. Until they release something with comparable battery life to ARM chips, Microsoft would have to be insane not to choose ARM.

It is called Medfield:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5365/intels-medfield-atom-z246...

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