Santa Clara is the saint of semiconductors. Cough
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MSI will release a Slate in the US and EU
TAIWANESE PC MAKER Micro-Star International (MSI) has announed that it will launch a Slatebook tablet PC in the US and Europe in the third quarter.
Company chairman Joseph Hsu is releasing the Slate without much hope that it will do well this year. He said that despite the sales performance of the Ipad, global market demand for tablet PCs is unlikely to take off until 2011 when supporting applications and services will become sufficiently available.
MSI has restructured its product lines lately and separated notebooks into six major categories. There are the F series notebooks with fashionable designs, G-series for gaming, C-series for classic notebooks, Wind U netbooks, X-Slim ultra-thin notebooks and Slatebook tablet PCs.
The company is planning to release only two or three new netbooks as consumer demand for netbooks is dropping rapidly, Hsu said.
MSI's Slatebook is based around an Intel Atom Zxx series processor, multi-touch capability, Windows 7, a built-in 3G and Wi-Fi module, and USB and HDMI ports. It will weigh in at 800g.
Hsu said that MSI is currently chatting to telcos about flogging the Slate and is arranging connection deals. µ
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Hahahaha the fear and desperation for daddy jobs is jumping out the comments like ash from that icelandic volcano.
"Oh jesus a w7 tablet will make our ipad look like what it is, goddammit what are we going to do?!'
By January 2011 it will be all over for the Windows platform. Plebeians will know for sure by then that Linux-based systems are better: less resource-hungry - cheaper - affordable...and they work.
Expect to see huge surge in Linux-based PCs in 1011 Q1.
Windows7 is like every other version of windows. It was designed to work with a keyboard and mouse. The touch interface was added on top. Sure it works, but is far from elegant. UIs like those found on Android/iPhones are the way to go. MS needs to put out a slate with the Zune interface if they want to be relevent in the slate arena. Full size tablet PCs running Windows7 will only sell in large numbers in vertical markets where windows compatible software is a requirement. Another thing holding back Windows7 on slates is their reliance on X86 processors. Battery life will always be poor compared to ARM based products. You just can't build a tablet/slate type device that will run Windows7 well and all day (8 hours+) and have it weigh less than 3 pounds.
Just because Apple releases a custom OS to ensure that their IFad locks users into a proprietary platform and content release system doesn't mean that a full-fledged OS like 7 can't be used just as well
Windows has been Tablet-ready since XP, and 7 was already designed for its use, finger or not, from the beginning (check your system properties; it detects if your system is capable). Adding or enabling multi-touch capabilities or whatever will be easy, and writing apps for it will not require permission from the Jobs himself. Also, 7 works very nicely on low-resource systems like netbooks. A Slate or IFad system will be more than capable for 7.
What will be nice about using a real "desktop" OS like 7 or a Linux-based tablet OS (that would include Chrome OS too) is that you're not stuck with a crippled piece-of-shit that is restricted by what a company like Apple wants people to use. This whole Flash-on-iPad/iPhone debacle is just the tip of the iceberg.
I don't know what the two commentators above me are talking about but Windows 7 is Windows first OS that is actually optimized for touch. The only reason this tablet could fail is if the specifications aren't high enough to run everything smoothly.
WinTel tablets = fail
Consumers will soon be able to make direct one-on-one comparisons between Windows and Android/Chromium systems.
It will not be long until it occurs to them to use Chromium on their desktops. Look to see a cottage industry of 'Convert you Losedows to Chromium' services :-)
This isn't a slate. This is a full Windows Tablet PC.
The slates are those tiny minimalist devices for viewing content, powered by an ARM processor.
Any Windows 7 slate will fail, as Windows 7 is designed for the desktop, not finger touch. Although Microsoft shoehorned a touch interface onto it, it is abysmal compared to Apple's iPad which was designed for finger touch.
Microsoft does not have an OS suitable for competing in the slate market, which will be dominated by the same players that dominate the smartphone market... Android and iPhone.