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July 16, 2012, 5:54 P.M. ET.ARMH, Nvidia Demo Asus Tab; Cooler, Thinner than x86.EmailPrint
smaller Larger By Tiernan Ray
Jeff Chu, head of client computing at ARM Holdings (ARMH), and Mark Aevermann, product manager handling things that pertain to PC graphics and Windows-based client computing at Nvidia (NVDA) stopped by the Dow Jones offices to meet with me and my colleague Shara Tibken of The Journal on Monday.
Shara has more on the meeting in her own article.
The duo showed off a forthcoming Asus (2357TW) tablet computer, code-named the “Tablet 600,” running Microsoft‘s (MSFT) “Windows RT” operating system, which is a variant of its Windows 8 software, expected this fall. The 600 is a tablet computer that docks to a keyboard to make a lightweight, compact hybrid tablet-notebook. It is matte black and looks like other Asus models such as the “Transformer.” Of course, it runs Nvidia’s Tegra processor, based on technology licensed from ARM.
For those familiar by now with the previews of Windows 8, there were no surprises. The demo showed fluid motion from screen to screen as Aevermann touched, pinched and swiped. He was not able to show off Microsoft Office running on the computer, though it is expected to come as standard on all WinRT machines. Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer talked up the virtues of the latest version of Office at a special press conference this afternoon. He made mention several times of products like the 600 running on ARM-based chips, saying they will get a full version of Office, “not the junior version.”
The bulk of the discussion was an exploration of how ARM-based tablets and PCs will compete with machines running Intel‘s (INTC) “x86? processors.
When I asked, for example, why people wouldn’t prefer the version of Microsoft’s Surface tablet computer running on an Intel chip (there is also a model that runs on Tegra), both gentlemen emphasized that the x86-based tablet is heavier and thicker than its ARM-based competitors, as you can see in the specs listed at the original announcement.
They stuck close to the theme that ARM-based tablets are lighter-weight because they need fewer cooling elements and don’t require as large a battery because the processor is more efficient. When Shara and I pressed the two on what will happen with further advances in Intel chips, both more or less begged off that discussion as rather irrelevant.
Aevermann also insisted Tegra-based products provide for lighter, thinner devices than Apple‘s (AAPL) current iPad. When Shara asked why Apple still has such a commanding lead of the iPad in tablets, Chu likened the battle to the first round of smartphone wars, where it took Google‘s (GOOG) Android software a few years to cross the iPhone in market share in terms of total number of devices shipped
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