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Intel's Atom banks on Windows 7 for tablet success
THE LAUNCH of Intel's Atom Z670 chip marks a watershed moment for the chipmaker as it tries to grapple with the growth of tablet devices in the so-called 'post-PC era'.
Intel's Atom processor has become synonymous with netbooks, and while the pint-sized laptops are still popular, the future is all about smartphones and tablets, an area where Kevin O'Donovan, marketing manager for notebooks and tablets at Intel, admits the firm needs to "become relevant". Intel's absence in the market is so clear even O'Donovan couldn't gloss over it, admitting, "You won't find that many Intel based tablets on the shelves at the moment."
The problem for Intel is that it is not immediately clear how the company will become relevant in the tablet market with the Atom Z670. Intel pitches the Atom Z670 as a chip that can run multiple operating systems and bring the advantages associated with an x86 compatible chip to tablets. The question is whether tablets need x86 processors as much as Intel needs to sell chips that get put into tablets.
During what seemed like a hastily arranged conference call, Intel kept pushing the Atom Z670 as a chip that can run many operating systems, including Microsoft's Windows 7, Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb and Meego.
The Atom's ability to run Windows 7 is just about the only unique selling point Intel has against the ARM-based chips from the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments and others.
Intel's strategy to bank on Windows 7 demand to push the Atom Z670 into tablets is a risky move for two reasons.
The tablet market has seen significant growth without Microsoft's operating system being loaded on any device and Gartner believes that by 2015, tablets running Apple's IOS and Google's Android will account for almost 86 per cent of the market. Then there is the question of whether a heavyweight operating system designed around keyboard and mouse input can provide the user experience that Intel says matters so much, against operating systems that are tailored for touch-based input.
Even if Microsoft scores something of a miracle and overturns Gartner's figures with Windows 8, that operating system will run on both x86 and ARM architectures. That means Intel won't have the carrot of Windows support to dangle in front of device manufacturers to win business.
Tags: Intel
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Pine Trail CPU's like the N455 and N475 are 64 bit processors that have been deliberately crippled so that they can only access 2GB of SODIMM RAM. Why? Because they did not want to upset Microsoft which prefers that the Atom only access 1GB. With 4GB and 8GB SODIMMs now available, purchasers of current Pine Trail hardware are at a distinct disadvantage compared to purchasers of AMD Brazos systems that can use the new 4GB memory modules. Putting the Wintel consortium priorities ahead of consumer wants is dumb but with a track record of doing this for years, it will be hard habit to break. It is time that Intel stopped sucking the Microsoft dummy and focussed upon giving consumers hardware that is not crippled and underpowered, especially when using Microsoft bloatware.
Microsoft’s Windows division just had its worst quarter since the Vista days. Microsoft says netbook sales are down 40%.
The world is moving to more mobile, non-Microsoft-compatible devices. And neither Intel nor Microsoft have a good answer to that.
Apples iPad 2 manages more than 10 hours of hard usage (e.g.video) with a 25whr battery. Intel has 3W tdp for processor and GPU only, good luck with that, when you also have to light up a screen, wireless network and drag Windows 7 around...
I'd sooner use an abacus than put up with the time-wasting I get with Windows crap.
The problem with Windows 7 tablets is that they are slow as molasses.
We're talking minutes before your desktop is usable, long waits to wake up from sleep mode, noticeable delays when you start any application, and a good 45 minutes to run this month's Windows Update.
I've got a dual-boot Win7/Meego netbook, and it's fast and responsive on Meego, and totally useless on Windows.
I really doubt that MS can clean up the Win8 code base enough to even get the damn thing to be reasonably alert.
Intel will need to focus on modern tablet OSs if they want to make any sales. The user experience with Windows and Atom processors won't meet consumers' expectations.
"So far, Intel's ultramobile strategies have all failed, either in the short or the long term (see MID, Netbooks, Superphones)"
Including "netbooks" in this statement requires reality distortion. Netbooks have been fatastically successful, as a regular visiter to the frequent flyer lounges of the world, I can anecdotally attest to this.
While you might argue that the netbook boom has peaked, it will doubtless settle in to a continuing presence in the total device landscape.
I suspect that so far the Atopm has more than paid for itself and will continue to do so for some time.
Personally though, I agree with LL here, Intel is and will remain largely irrelevant in the tablet and smartphone market for now and probably forever
Since most of the x86-compatible applications are made for Windows or similar GUIs, the x86 compatibility advantage is non-existent on any tablets that sell are sold in non-trivial numbers. If you talk about Windows 7 tablets, that's a different story, but I don't see them being sold or used much at all.
So far, Intel's ultramobile strategies have all failed, either in the short or the long term (see MID, Netbooks, Superphones). It'll be interesting how Intel's latest gamble will play out.
If yes, i do not care about Intel as soon as Windows 8 comes.
about x86 compatibility in a tablet for two reasons.
First reason: Microsoft have pretty much moved over to .NET for application development, which is a virtual machine environment that runs on any CPU architecture.
Second reason Citrix terminal sessions run on tablets just fine, giving remote access to the full corporate desktop.
Give them thin, light and long battery life with 3G connectivity and they're happy.
Its not just about Windows itself that matters, its about the whole Windows/x86 eco system. Having a tablet that can run the same SW as your laptop/netbook is an advantage. Windows 8 support for ARM won't nullify that. This is especially important for corporates.
If Intel/MS/OEMs can put a competative (power/performance/weight)Windows/x86 based tablet(with dedicated UI enhancements) than it should be very compelling.
It will be as open as the PC eco-system compared to being locked in the hands of closed eco-systems by Apple or Google.