CES 2012: Windows 8 Demoed on Texas Instruments Tablet

Windows 8 will arrive with support for far more processor types than its predecessors. Microsoft said that before, and came to CES 2012 in Las Vegas with its pockets full of devices capable of proving so. 

The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show offered Microsoft the possibility to show some of the capabilities of its upcoming OS, as well as the fact that it will get along nicely with tablet PCs. 

Whether powered by Intel, AMD or ARM processors, these devices will run Windows 8, and will run it pretty well. 

One of the demoes at CES came from Texas Instruments, which will have its processors powering Windows 8 tablets. 

TI brought a Windows 8 tablet at CES, with its new OMAP4470 ARM processor inside, and CNet managed to get a glimpse at it. 

Apparently, things are looking more than encouraging. The tablet was capable of connecting to the Internet, and showed smooth scrolling on a CNN news site. 

This proves that Windows 8 will be able to deliver great performance on ARM, although many are skeptical about the success of the pair. 

In the end, there is the possibility that Windows 8 on ARM will not offer support for legacy applications, that there will be no “desktop mode” available for users to take advantage of, and that new software will have to be created for Windows 8 tablets. 

However, TI’s demonstration might put some of these concerns to rest. The company’s OMAP4470 processor, clocked in at 1.8GHz, appears to be capable of delivering the performance users are seeking in a tablet PC. It is 20 percent faster than TI’s OMAP4460 and also features a faster PowerVR SGX544 GPU. 

Windows 8 is expected to hit the shelves on Intel architectures this year, while making it inside ARM devices in 2013. Analysts suggested that Windows 8 on ARM might be too late to the party, but things might turn out differently in the end. 

"Combining the OMAP 4 platform's unique capabilities with Microsoft's seamless interaction of touch, mouse and keyboard via Windows 8 will deliver a streamlined, fast and fluid experience," Deepu Talla, general manager, OMAP mobile computing, wireless business unit, TI, stated. 

"Reimagined, Windows 8 is a fast and fluid, touch-first OS that brings a new range of capabilities without compromise," said Aidan Marcuss, senior director of Windows Core Marketing & Ecosystem, Microsoft Corp.

Posted in: News, Preview, Tablet