Microsoft (MSFT) Vendors Delay Win8 Tablets as Intel (INTC) Chips Cause Issues


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December 20, 2012 10:54 AM EST Send to a Friend
If Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is looking to make a big splash with the next-generation Intel (Nasdaq: INTC)-based Surface tablet, it might need to wait a little longer than expected.

According to InformationWeek, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and other vendors are pushing back the launch of the new tablet lineup due to issues with the new chipset.

Dubbed "Clover Trail," Intel's Atom Z2760 chip was supposed to improve Surface performance and battery life enough to put it on par with Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) venerable iPad. OEMs have not faired well with efforts to bring products to market.

For example, Dell previously advertised that its Latitude 10 tablet would ship on December 12th, but now expects a shipment date around January 22nd.

H-P, ASUStek, and Lenovo are also experiencing delays in launching tablets. Out of the top five global PC vendors, only Acer is able to release the Clover Trail-based tablet in its W510-1666 model.

With Windows 8, its all about live tiles. That's where Intel's Clover Trail was expected to excel, with something called Connected Standby. Connected Standby allows that tablet to have a smartphone-like standby mode by staying up-to-date with email, news, weather, and more.

Shares of Microsoft are rebounding today following a modest dip Wednesday. The stock is up 0.4 percent on the session.

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Comments

gaston4kd@yahoo.com
gaston4kd on Dec 21, 2012 09:21 PM
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Wrong wrong wrong sent from my Samsung smart pc running on z2760

Atom does have comparable battery life
Luke on Dec 21, 2012 11:28 AM
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"where Intel's Clover Trail was expected to excel, with something called Connected Standby."

Are you saying that's not the case? W510 gets up to 9 hours and with dock up to 18 hours of battery life. Very confusing article.

what about Samsung & leno?
steve on Dec 21, 2012 09:52 AM
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Acer is not the only one with a" Clover Trail" device out in time for Christmas. Samsung and Lenovo also have fine devices already on the market.

And HP is missing and Surface is not CloverTrail...
Luc on Dec 21, 2012 11:26 AM
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Agree. And HP Envy X2 is also available for while.

Another major mistake:

"Z2760 chip was supposed to improve Surface"

Surface RT runs ARM chip. Surface Pro runs core CPU.


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