Next SurfaceRT To Come With Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, LTE

recoiledsnake writes "Following up on our previous discussion of Microsoft selling discounted SurfaceRT tablets to schools (which fueled speculation about the future of Surface RT), Bloomberg is now reporting that Microsoft is fast at work on the next Surface RT which will replace the current Tegra 3 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip which has stellar benchmarks against the likes of the upcoming Tegra 4, Apple A6X, and Exynos processors, especially in the GPU and graphics department. Since the SoC comes with 3g/LTE, this might be the first Surface to support integrated cellular data. There are also indications that there could be an 8" version, and that the new versions might be revealed alongside the Windows 8.1 preview bits at the upcoming BUILD conference, starting on June 26."

Re:This is great

[Anonymous Coward]

Here ladies and gentlemen, we have a Reputation Manager hard at work.

High user number, low post count, all of which praise MS in some way.

The check's in the post.

Was performance the problem?

[Henriok]

Even though increased hardware performance like computing power, features and increased battery life certainly won't hurt, performance isn't really the problem with Windows RT tablets now is it?

Seriously!!!

[Vanderhoth]

Do we have to go through the the same BS we went through when Windows 8 was in consumer preview. Months of, "I've used Windows 8 since Developer preview, and it's just swell. My five year old loves... blah... blah... blah...".

This is ./, we're the techies that decide how good a product is. Windows 8 is a failure, no one's buying your BS here, find a local news paper to post in.

Re:This is great

[ArcadeMan]

I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but SurfaceRT has always inspired me.

Possible Microsoft shill detected.

I think it's great that they're getting these in the stores!

Microsoft shill confirmed.

After all, they are both stronger and better performing than iPads or Android tablets.

Microsoft FUD detected, presenting false data as facts.

They also come with many advanced features compared to those two.

More Microsoft FUD detected.

And don't forget about it - developer integration is well formed and ready for any (big or indie) publisher right out of the box with your latest Visual Studio version.

Obvious shill is totally obvious.

Thank Goodness!

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

This is such good news! All the complaints about 'Surface RT' that I've heard so far have centered on how the Tegra3 is too slow, and doesn't have enough LTE. Nothing about how the hilariously perfunctory not-quite-office version of office is deeply touch-unfriendly, or being locked into Microsoft's walled garden store, or the relatively tiny application library. This should fix everything!

Re:So what?

[Missing.Matter]

Until and unless they change "Windows" RT so that it lets non-Microsoft applications run on the desktop, no one cares.

There are plenty of Windows 8 tablets out there that do exactly this. Windows RT is for people who want an iPad analogue. i.e. they have no want or need to install legacy applications on their tablet.

People aren't writing applications for Metro and aren't going to start.

There are currently 92,000 apps in the Windows store [metrostorescanner.com], and it's growing at an average rate of 591 apps per day. Using Apple's latest figures (from WWDC) for the iPad, the iPad appstore is growing at an average of 435 apps per day. This also includes some double counting for "free" and "paid" versions, which the Windows app store bundles into one app.

Why are the EU antitrust authorities letting them get away with this, anyway?

iPad works the same way. They have no problem with iPad, which has 70% of the tablet market share, so why should they have a problem with Windows RT?

Re:This is great

[ArcadeMan]

Apple fanboys and consoles fanboys can be that excited, but they still wouldn't word it in that fashion.

"I think it's great they are getting these in stores!" sounds like the point of view of the seller, not the buyer.

As an example, a PS4 fanboy would say something like "I'll camp on the sidewalk for days if I have to, but I'm getting one on launch day! Xbox sucks!!1".