The revolution has already begun and the clock is ticking towards a tremendous paradigm shift towards the future of PC and laptop industry by the end of 2012. The market waves are expected to change towards a slew of Windows 8-powered devices by October and November this year.
This can be said, as with the onset of the Asia's leading IT fair - Computex - in Taipei, Taiwan, which will be taking place from June 4-9, Microsoft's much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system has already taken the stage and has dominated the show with a slew of launches along with major consumer electronics manufacturers.
If observed from the beginning of the year, Microsoft has been putting all effort in Windows 8 development. The company made available the Release Preview of Windows 8 just recently, while the Developer Preview was released a couple of months ago in three editions, namely including Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT, which was previously known at Windows on ARM. At the same time, Microsoft's new operating system features a traditional Windows desktop interface as well as Metro UI derived from second generation Windows smartphones, indication that a touch-optimized version of Windows 8 is ready to be featured in a tablet.
Rumors were already extensive prior to the event, about the lined up launches by multiple manufacturers like Asus and Toshiba. And confirming them, PC makers like Asus and Acer have already unveiled their Windows 8 tablets and other devices in the show.
Asus announced host of devices including, Asus Taichi, the dual-sided LED-backlit IPS/FHD display / hybrid running Windows 8 device with a touch screen on the outside of the lid. Transformer Book, Asus's first convertible notebook series and also Asus Transformer AiO, All-in-One PC running on a dual operating system machine - supporting both Windows 8 and Android. Additionally, the manufacturer also announced two Windows 8 tablets -- Tablet 810 and Tablet 610. All these new devices are informed by the company to land on shelves with high-end specs, including 10- to 12-inch displays, Intel Atom or Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and 2GB of RAM, 8 MP rear camera sensors and more.
On the other hand, Acer showed off two tablets - the Iconia W700 and W510 - running on Windows 8 OS. The newly launched devices price points and market availability is still not disclosed. However, the manufacturer confirmed that both the devices will come with spectacular updated features under the hood with a dependable battery life and detachable keyboard dock.
While Acer and Asus exhibited their devices prior to Computex 2012 event, on the Day 1 of the event, Samsung took the lead and unveiled several new Windows devices including two tablets with attachable keyboards, scheduled to release in October.
The two tablets, namely Samsung Series 5 Hybrid PC and the Samsung Series 7 Hybrid PC, both were introduced enthrusted with Windows 8 and featuring 11.6 inch touchscreens. Samsung, however, said the tablets were still in the development stages, and offered few technical specs, only saying they would use Intel chips with a 7 hours battery life. A few reports have also revealed that the South-Koreans giant has noted that Series 7 Hybrid will also pack more processing power, but its hardware design will be slightly thicker, compared with the Series 5 Hybrid.
Along with the tablets, Samsung also showed off a convertible laptop device with a touchscreen. The Samsung Notebook Series 5 Ultra Convertible -- which is built with a 360-degree hinge, allowing the notebook to flip into a tablet, with specs including Intel Core i7 processor at 1.9GHz,a decent battery life. Samsung, however, said the device is only a concept at this point. The company also showed a similar device, called the Samsung Notebook Series 5 Ultra Touch, but this came without the 360-degree hinge for its display.
Further, reports are widespread that major manufacturers like Dell, Nokia, HP, Lenovo and others are also prepping up to release their new line of tablets and devices triggered with Microsoft's Windows 8 by the end of 2012. Earlier reports had already emerged that Dell is gearing up to launch by the end of 2012, two Windows 8 tablets including Dell Latitude 10 and XPS 12, equipped with 10.8-inch and 12.5-inch display respectively and also would feature dual-core Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage.
Hence, this automatically inclines to a thought that with no major competition so far, will Microsoft's new OS tablets will be better than Android-based tablets and become the main competition to Apple's iPads? Well, analyst believe it could be a possibility if Microsoft plays its cards right, as it could be the one that finally gives the iPad a serious challenge in the market.
Windows 8 tablets may pose a threat to Apple and other tablets in the market shares. The reason being that this newly upgraded operating system supports both ARM and x86chips, contributing automatically to more options for the buyers in terms of price, performance and battery life in choosing the right tablet for their purchase.
But in the end, it all depends on how consumers respond to the new user interface, Metro. Let us know in the comments section below about your thoughts on the same.
