Microsoft Windows 7 on tablets - Compete with Apple ipad

[Kwan Khan]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/29/technology/microsoft_analyst_meeting/index.htm

There have been MANY windows tablet pcs for over a decade now. Part of the problem is they are expensive and heavy. If Microsoft would allow a cheaper, smaller version of an OS to be installed on tablets that would help.
Tablet running Windows 7 will have more OS features than iPhone OS on the iPad

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

They aren't all big, expensive or heavy.

The problem is that the advantage of Win7 on a tablet is that you can run real programs like Photoshop, Framecycler, Lightroom etc.

If you release a stripped down Win7 then you can't run any of the windows apps anymore.

As an owner of a Win7 tablet I can find a number of areas where windows itself could be more finger friendly. But by and large the problems with Win7 finger usage don't have anything to do with Windows so much as the applications that run in them. Some programs like ArtRage or Toxik are fantastic when being used just with a stylus or finger. But others like Photoshop are less so.

Similarly IE is actually very good when being run in tablet mode. Chrome and firefox, not so much.

As to size and weight vs performance I think we'll see that solved this year. The next crop of low voltage x86 CPUs is going to finally deliver enough performance for a modern application and OS. I used a 7" Vista slate for 3 months but returned it just because the processor was too sluggish in the apps I was using. Size and price wasn't a problem it was relatively inexpensive and very small.

 

[Subhadip Sen]

I am excited for AMD Ontario Fusion. Previews say it is twice as fast as Atom and has a DX11 GPU inbuilt. Could be the ideal candidate for tablets, and it should run Windows 7 just fine. Atom is bit on the weak side for Windows 7 and modern apps, though, as Gavin mentioned.

 

[Clint Johnson]

I was really unimpressed by the iPad a device for creating anything. I was hoping for an iTablet running OSX but instead got a glorified iPod Touch running a phone OS that can run cute little apps. I wanted to be able to use Photoshop on it- not iFart.

I wrote about it when it first came out and nothing has changed my mind since then.

I use a six year old Motion Computing tablet and I couldn't conceive of trading it for the iPad for doing real work... but as a device to consume that real work, the iPad does a good job.

A Windows 7 Tablet and an iPad are not really competing against each other... in the old days of atoms, before bits became the order of the day, it is like saying that a typewriter and a dictionary is competing with a dictionary alone.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

iPad is a lot more powerful than people give it credit for... OTOH, it's being crippled by an app store and application model mindset where people grew accustomed to paying $2 for an app and think all apps for iOS should cost $2 or close to that. There really is little incentive for software companies to invest significant resources into developing anything for the iPad other than a game somebody can play by casually touching the screen while lying on their couch. Truly sad, really...

Windows 7 tablet products and prototypes I've seen and played with have failed to impress me so far. :-( Both AMD and Intel have new CPUs coming out to run various flavors of Win7 on tablet-style and other compact mobile devices, netbooks, sub-notebooks, etc.. And it's not really the hardware that has been an issue so far, it's been Win7 in touchy-feely form. It sucks. It totally lacks the responsiveness and elegance of Apple's iOS. So many applications at this point don't work well with a touch interface. All capabilities aside, if the interface is lacking, then why use it in tablet form?

What I'd really like before a Windows tablet is a Windows notebook that is both super compact and powerful. Something like the Macbook Air, but even a bit smaller, with eSATA, USB3, decent CPU and kick-ass GPU for the size. An 11" screen would be just great if they can give me 1440x900 resolution on it. Or better yet, give us a 13" 1920x1080 system. It would sell like crazy.... A bonus would be if it had a multi-touch trackpad AND screen and if the display could swivel 180 degrees and fold flat against the lower keyboard half. Essentially that's the next evolution of the current "tablet PC" paradigm. They need to increase specs while drastically cutting size.

The iPad is a great tool for certain applications. I've seen what it can do for custom installations in a medical facility. It's awesome for security and automation and a multitude of other targeted uses. As a platform to actually create things with, it's not so ideal. But that's not its intent. It's a consumption device. It's a human interface device. It's not a paintbrush.

 

[Vladimir Cassel]

iPad is just a hell of a lot of fun! Windows isn't. When I need to get some serious stuff done though, I'll turn to my PC.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I would love to have a Windows 7 or Google OS tablet, especially if it had a 1080p screen, or at least 720p.