Lenovo, from China, chimed in the same day (Aug. 30) with some Android models running on nVidia, MTK, and Qualcomm processors. But most of the U.S. firms' offerings were x86 systems featuring full Windows 8.
The timing was interesting in that most people were still away at their summer cottages or getting in one last hurrah at the beach. And the content was interesting, too, as the two largest U.S. PC hardware manufacturers flashed sneak-peeks rather than making complete announcements. Missing were details like price and availability.
Of course, availability is pretty clearly gated by Microsoft’s launch date, which is pegged to Oct. 26, but it is in the niceties of the industry that the PC hardware OEMs don’t jump before Microsoft in these matters.
All the folderol over Microsoft’s Surface notwithstanding, the bulk of Windows 8 shipments will come from systems like these.
So, what have we got?
Well, Dell chose the IFA tradeshow in Berlin as the venue for its pre-announcement. The company queued up three XPS products. XPS now represents Dell’s luxury line, high-end systems with quality fit and finish. The three units included the XPS 10, a tablet designed for both work and play; the XPS Duo 12, a convertible Ultrabook (Intel’s designation for high-mobility notebooks); and the XPS One 27, a super-dense-pixel all-in-one desktop.
An exception to the x86 rule, the XPS 10 will run Windows RT on an ARM processor. As the name implies, the XPS 10 has a 10” touchscreen.
The XPS Duo 12 (with 12.5” touchscreen) converts between a tablet and a notebook by way of what Dell describes as a “flip hinge,” a frame that holds the tablet at two points along its edges, allowing it to be swiveled 180 degrees and snapped into place, either as a tablet or a clamshell notebook.
The XPS One 27 of course sports a 27” touchscreen, but what a piece of glass! The 2560 x 1440 Quad HD display gives the user 3,686,400 pixels to revel in, enough resolution for almost anybody. With the ability to position the screen horizontally, the user can play the 10-point touch surface like a piano. This unit is a refresh of an existing product, and following the XPS One 27 already in-market, you can expect that the internal specifications will be of only the beefiest sort (e.g., an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, optional high-end nVidia graphics, up to 16GB of memory, and up to a 2TB hard drive as well as premium audio).
Three seems to be the number of the moment, and for its part, HP teased three systems as well: the ENVY x2, the SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook, and the ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4. The HP announcement came as a press release out of the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto.
Like Dell’s XPS 12, the ENVY x2 is a hybrid, but HP has chosen to use magnets for hinges. The magnets guide the tablet into the base, which has additional mechanical features to hold the tablet-now-display firmly in place. The ENVY x2 features a bright 11.6” touchscreen, high-resolution cameras, premium audio, and near-field communications (NFC) for sharing content.
The SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook has a 15.6” HD touchscreen, an all-metal body, Thunderbolt connectivity, USB charging, premium audio and camera, and a slew of bundled software.
The ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 carries a 14” HD touchscreen and a set of premium features similar to those of its 15.6” sister.
And not one to miss the party, Lenovo also announced three new tablets at IFA: the Ideatab S2110, A2107, and A2109. All three run on Google’s Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The S2110 is a thin, light 10” premium tablet featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. The A2107 is a 7” model with an MTK processor, and the A2109 is a 9” version with an nVidia Tegra 3 processor.
Of the lot, only the Lenovo systems have prices so far: $299 for the A2109 and $399 for the S2110. Systems that run on Intel processors or featuring a Windows operating system are likely to cost more.
So, almost two months before the launch of Windows 8, where does that put us?
Right in the ambiguous place we were before.
The landscape has changed since the last time Microsoft put out a new operating system. This time, the field is littered with alternatives: Android-based systems, ARM processors, and all the combinations and permutations of the above.
Only HP is doing a pure Wintel lineup at the moment, and company executives indicate that that might change in the future.
Dell is signaling a mixed commitment, which is consonant with the company’s long-time strategy of keeping its options open.
Lenovo will, of course, have a full lineup, which is befitting for a company gearing up to take the top spot in worldwide PC shipments, possibly as early as the quarter we’re in now (3Q12). But the company is emphasizing Android-on-ARM tablets right now.
A study I once did of how technology introductions affect PC shipments indicated that, except for Windows 95, nothing that either Microsoft or Intel has ever done has affected sales, using a rough enough granularity on the timescale. People seem to buy PCs when they need them, regardless of the exact technology, which is understood to be continuously improving. The overriding factors in shipment levels have always been the overall economic picture (which is still grim) and seasonality (which continues to operate).
I would add to that now a secular trend, the rise of high-mobility devices, led by ARM-based hardware and Apple or Google software. Certainly, iOS and Android devices have dampened PC shipments to some extent, particularly among consumers.
Using a finer granularity on the timescale, however, one can detect a “trough” effect before the wave of a technology introduction. At the margin, some people hold off buying a month or two waiting for the new material. Microsoft tries to mitigate this effect, with some success, by offering upgrade coupons.
HP has indicated that there are more products to come as launch season rolls around, and surely the other firms will pump up their lines as well. Expect to see a lot more convertible and hybrid tablets, which will highlight the touch capabilities of Windows 8.
But the Windows 8 launch is likely to be a much more indeterminate event than previous Windows introductions, a sign of the times and the more complex commercial environment.
Disclosure: Endpoint has consulting relationships with the major PC hardware OEMs.
Twitter: RogerKay
