Intel has revealed its checklist for the upcoming Windows 8 tablets that will be based on its Clover Trail architecture at a conference in Beijing. It remains to be seen whether it can successfully fulfill all of them by the end of this year.
The initial Intel based tablets will have the Atom Z2760 “Clover Trail” chip, which has hyper-threading and burst mode (similar to Turbo mode on its Core series). Following is the list of expectations they have outlined.
“Two basic tablet designs: The tablets themselves, as proposed by Intel, fall into two basic sizes: pure 10-inch tablets and hybrid 11-inch designs with physical keyboards.
Battery life: More than nine hours. That’s just on paper of course. So, final products will tell the real story.
3G/4G: That’s a must for tablets, of course. And Intel bought the wireless business of a little chip company called Infineon. So it can supply its own silicon here if necessary.
Weight/thickness: Under 1.5 pounds. No surprise here. The gen 3 iPad is 1.44 pounds, by the way. Thickness, as proposed, is under 9mm. Again, as a yardstick, the gen 3 iPad is 9.4mm.
Miscellaneous: NFC (near field communication) and Wi-Fi Direct.”
It should definitely be an interesting release as it remains to be seen whether the Intel mobile processors can match the ARM counterparts, especially when it comes to delivering battery life.
