Dell, Lenovo and Samsung have joined Asus (and Microsoft) in the list of companies that are confirmed to have Windows RT systems in the pipeline. News of the confirmed manufacturers comes directly from Microsoft although as The Verge points out, HP’s name is glaringly missing among the other PC builders.
Following the introduction of Microsoft’s Surface tablets in June, HP told Bloomberg they will initially only be building Intel-based business notebooks, citing input from their customers. They feel that the established x86 platform provides the best customer experience at this time and in the immediate future.
Microsoft points out that it won’t just be ARM-friendly tablets coming from these manufacturers. Some will be producing full-sized notebooks complete with keyboard and track pads, according to Redmond.
We also are now hearing some of the early battery estimates that we can expect to see with Windows RT devices. Systems with 10.1-inch to 11.6-inch displays and 25 to 42 Whr batteries have been good for between eight to 13 hours of runtime. Tests were conducted running full-screen HD video while the system was synched to a single e-mail account. Microsoft also notes that in a “connected standby” mode, systems were able to achieve between 320 and 409 hours of battery life.
As for performance, we are hearing that Windows RT systems are capable of 60fps during operating system animations and that touchpad gestures are now supported natively in the firmware. The OS has now hit the RTM build so it’s only a matter of time before we’ll start to see some early systems show up.
