Windows 7 based tablets haven’t taken off quite the way that Microsoft probably wishes they had, and it’s clear that Windows 8 — and especially with the WOA initiative — aims to take tablets on head first. Toshiba’s latest tablet is still only a Windows 7 model at launch– will that be enough?
Toshiba’s just announced the WT200 tablet for Australian availability at the end of the month. It’ll cost $999 and comes with a 10.1 inch 1366×768 pixel display, Windows 7 Professional (32-bit) with 2GB of RAM running on an Intel Atom N2600 1.6GHz processor. Storage is provided via a 64GB SSD, and expansion comes via 2 USB ports; both are USB 2.0 but one is a Mini USB port, as well as SD card slot and micro HDMI output. Toshiba’s release for the tablet markets it pretty solidly at businesses, and notes that it’s “Compatible with future Windows operating systems expected to launch in 2012.”
It’s true that those specifications would meet the minimum Windows 8 requirements, but as this isn’t an ARM-based processor, what you’d be doing is installing a full x86 version of Windows 8 onto it if you wanted to go down that upgrade path. One of the key advantages for WOA tablets should be improved battery life — although you do pay for that with absolutely zero backwards application compatibility. The WT200 shouldn’t have that problem, but it’ll be interesting to see how its 3 cell 2700mAh Lithium-Ion battery stands up.
[Toshiba]