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Tablets are hot, this is nothing new. The iPad has dominated most of the tablet market since it’s launch in 2010.  The advantage of a tablet is simple. It is much more portable than a computer and laptop and it weighs less. The battery is, normally, a lot better than a laptop as well.

While Apple and Android are the big competitors, I do not want either of them. Both platforms have their advantages and disadvantages. When I look at it though, Windows 8 tablets will be best for what I need.

Windows 8

Windows 8 is currently in the public beta test. The Consumer Preview is released now and in a couple of weeks the Release Preview is released. I have been able to play with it and it is starting to grow on me. The Metro Interface look great, it is clean, simple and very content orientated. The Windows Store currently doesn’t have a lot of apps, but when it opens for developers I expect a lot of content.

ARM vs x86/x64

ARM is known for it’s power-friendly solutions. It is THE thing for smartphone and tablet processors. Intel feels the heat and has stepped up the game. The new Intel Medfield processors seems to be more than capable to go head-to-head with ARM.

As you can see in the image above, power consumption is actually good. When you look at the performance, it outclasses other phones. With this processor I think we can finally reach 10+ hours of usage on an x86 computer.

Applications

ARM tablets with Windows 8 will be available. The problem with that is the same problem I have with Android and IOS tablets. I want to run my computer software. I have seen examples of people playing Diablo 2 on a Windows tablet:

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQLSbB2jzCc” theme=”light” autohide=”1″]

Or how about some Command and Conquer?

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM57FqsJb2s” theme=”light” autohide=”1″]

Just think of all the gems that might do great on a touchscreen, not to mention that you can plug in mouse and keyboard which would essentially make it a regular laptop.

Concluding

In my eyes there are many advantages about a Windows 8 tablet compared to an Android/IOS tablet. The problem at the moment though is that the only tablet that really can handle windows 8 is the Samsung Slate 7. This due to the sensor and screen resolution requirements you can see here:

• Storage: At least 10gb free space “after the out-of-box experience completes”
• Graphics: Direct3D 10 device w/ WDDM 1.2 driver
• Display resolution: 1366×768
• Camera: 720p
• Accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope
• USB: USB 2.0
• Networking: WLAN and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE (low energy)
• System firmware: UEFI

So what do you think? Will it be worth the wait or is it too little too late for Microsoft?