Yeah, but they will leak it at a show and apologize to M$...

Story: Is Asus prepping an Android tablet?Total Replies: 5
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JaseP

Jul 22, 2010
9:05 AM EDT
Yeah, but they will leak it at a show and then subsequently apologize to M$... saying "We really didn't mean to show you this wonderful Linux-based tablet device,... We instead wanted to show you this OTHER device with a more powerful processor and more memory and running at half the speed. Oh, and it runs Win7. We, like 9 out of 10 dentists, recommend Win7 for our users who CHEW gum,..."

hkwint

Jul 22, 2010
2:18 PM EDT
Except this time, Asus can't bypass the _real_ problem:

If they make a Windows 7 tablet, they need x86. All x86 tablets have about 3-4 times shorter battery life than Cortex-A powered stuff, such as the iPad. So if they make a Windows 7 tablet, consumers may choose a competitor because of battery life.

If they make a tablet with an ARM SoC, it can't run Windows XP/ Vista / 7.

If they put WinCE on their ARM-tablet, users can't benefit from the existing Windows-desktop software, so then Windows wouldn't be beneficial at all.

Tons of other Chinese (small) ODM's already figured this out, and that's why most of them are offering some Linux distro, Android or CE. If Asus doesn't follow, there sure are 50 new 'canditate-Asi' willing to take there place out there.
tuxchick

Jul 22, 2010
11:56 PM EDT
I'm wondering when more of these are going to leak out of China and into the US. I swear we are falling further behind the rest of the world in high tech every day.
tracyanne

Jul 23, 2010
1:35 AM EDT
When I see how it has become necessary that the manufacturers continue to build what is basically legacy hardware in order to continue to offer Windows, I am somehow reminded of the Empire in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
jdixon

Jul 23, 2010
9:20 AM EDT
> If they make a tablet with an ARM SoC, it can't run Windows XP/ Vista / 7.

It can if they create a x86 emulator for ARM. :) Do any of the current virtualization packages out there support ARM? I'm at work and don't have time to research right now.
hkwint

Jul 23, 2010
10:11 AM EDT
An emulator would be interesting. However, if used, Windows 7 would probably be slower than all their competitors like Android, IOS etc.

I'm also wondering if these Chinese systems will make it to the EU / US. At ARMdevices.net, I've seen at least 30 different Linux tablets. Normally, it would take some Western company to import these and put their brands on it. However, I'm not sure if HP, Dell and the like are willing to do this, so a smaller company might try to do so. The minimum amount of units to buy from these Chinese ODM's is normally 1000 pieces, which makes it too expensive for most people to pull of on their own, as 1000 tablets of 100 dollars still equals 100G, which I currently don't have (suprise!).

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