The return of the Sub 10" Windows Tablet
According a recent report by Bloomberg News - MS is working on a budget tablet under the Surface brand with a $400 price target. Powered by an Intel-M CPU the device is targeted to entry level users.
So MS has tried this before - First with the Surface 3 - which was actually a 10.8 variant running an Intel Atom CPU and second was via a number of OEM products back in the Windows 8/8.1 Era with products like the Dell Venue Pro (which I own) and HPs Stream line. But with the combination of slow sales and Intel's decision to drop the Atom line - those products faded.
While some of vendors did continue to support 8" - 10" form factor tablet most moved to Android as the OS.
You can actually buy a range of Windows 10 based tablets today from folks like Chuwi and their Hi - Pro line - in 8" - 12" sizes. Some models are even available as dual-boot Windows/Android and come with LTE capabilities. The various models support either Intel Cherry Lake or MediaTek CPUs.
Now it's not confirmed whether MS is actually going to produce this new 10" Windows Tablet and if it's actually going to be the infamous "Andromeda" device (with a folding screen) - but it's interesting to see support for that form factor. If MS can actually inject LTE capability with a true eSIM support - it might be interesting.
As I noted in an earlier post - the recent Always Connected PC (ACPC) partnership with Qualcomm and resultant products from HP, Lenovo and Asus did not do well in their initial reviews and to my knowledge are not selling well. I know I have recommended not buying one.
While I like the form factor and have been amazed at how well my 4 year old Venue 8 Pro continues to support Windows 10 (I'm running RS5 - 17672 on it now) - I have to wonder how well this potential new device might sell and especially how MS will support accessories like keyboards, pens, etc., and how that would impact the total price.
The other challenge will be battery life. The primary use case for my Venue 8 Pro is often for watching movies or listening to music on flights to allow my main laptop to stay turned off in the overhead. The good news is that I can often get 5 - 6 hours out of the device - so coast to coast. The secondary use case is Office, OneNote, etc - so I can easily read and perform quick responses to corp emails as well or take it to a meeting and jot down notes.
If MS can develop a device that have that combination of enough horsepower and connectivity along with 8 hr+ battery life then they might have a winner. With that said - They also need to continue to evolve their hardware support from a driver/firmware perspective - which has been one of the challenges with the Surface line.
The other interesting question will be will any of the big 4 OEMs also produce these devices. Dell was visibly absent from the ACPC partnership and launch and so maybe they'll revive the Venue Pro line. But only time will tell.
As with any of these form factor options the question always is - will MS or any OEMs see enough unit sales to offset the development, production and support costs or will this just be another science experiment...
So MS has tried this before - First with the Surface 3 - which was actually a 10.8 variant running an Intel Atom CPU and second was via a number of OEM products back in the Windows 8/8.1 Era with products like the Dell Venue Pro (which I own) and HPs Stream line. But with the combination of slow sales and Intel's decision to drop the Atom line - those products faded.
While some of vendors did continue to support 8" - 10" form factor tablet most moved to Android as the OS.
You can actually buy a range of Windows 10 based tablets today from folks like Chuwi and their Hi - Pro line - in 8" - 12" sizes. Some models are even available as dual-boot Windows/Android and come with LTE capabilities. The various models support either Intel Cherry Lake or MediaTek CPUs.
Now it's not confirmed whether MS is actually going to produce this new 10" Windows Tablet and if it's actually going to be the infamous "Andromeda" device (with a folding screen) - but it's interesting to see support for that form factor. If MS can actually inject LTE capability with a true eSIM support - it might be interesting.
As I noted in an earlier post - the recent Always Connected PC (ACPC) partnership with Qualcomm and resultant products from HP, Lenovo and Asus did not do well in their initial reviews and to my knowledge are not selling well. I know I have recommended not buying one.
While I like the form factor and have been amazed at how well my 4 year old Venue 8 Pro continues to support Windows 10 (I'm running RS5 - 17672 on it now) - I have to wonder how well this potential new device might sell and especially how MS will support accessories like keyboards, pens, etc., and how that would impact the total price.
The other challenge will be battery life. The primary use case for my Venue 8 Pro is often for watching movies or listening to music on flights to allow my main laptop to stay turned off in the overhead. The good news is that I can often get 5 - 6 hours out of the device - so coast to coast. The secondary use case is Office, OneNote, etc - so I can easily read and perform quick responses to corp emails as well or take it to a meeting and jot down notes.
If MS can develop a device that have that combination of enough horsepower and connectivity along with 8 hr+ battery life then they might have a winner. With that said - They also need to continue to evolve their hardware support from a driver/firmware perspective - which has been one of the challenges with the Surface line.
The other interesting question will be will any of the big 4 OEMs also produce these devices. Dell was visibly absent from the ACPC partnership and launch and so maybe they'll revive the Venue Pro line. But only time will tell.
As with any of these form factor options the question always is - will MS or any OEMs see enough unit sales to offset the development, production and support costs or will this just be another science experiment...
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