Windows 8 RT Not Heading to Intel’s SOC

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7 Jun, 2012 1:13 am

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Scrolling through my twitter feed it became clear quickly that there were questions about if we would see Windows RT running on Intel architecture. There are two versions of Windows 8, the full edition with the option of the familiar desk top and Windows 8 RT which is basically just the Metro UI. Windows 8 RT is exclusively for ARM based devices because the full version is just too heavy for the ARM SOCs. Since Intel is running the full Windows 8 on their line up it only makes sense that they would offer it across all of their chips, that includes the upcoming Clover Trail which is apart of the low power Atom Series.

Clover Trail is an interesting SoC, as it uses the similar architecture as Medfield, but will feature two cores, instead of one and will most likely feature HyperThreading. Clover Trail is also designed specifically for tablets and since Windows already has good support for threaded CPUs so it should be able to handle Windows 8 when it launches.

If you can get the full Windows 8 experience why would you want to get the cut down RT version? For a few reasons, a cut down version would run faster, maybe you don’t need the desktop and you could get more performance out of your new Clover Trail tablet.

The second could be cost, there is talk that Windows 8 RT is around the same price or might even be less. However, there are some analysts claiming they might be more significantly more expensive than Since there is no official commentary this is just speculation.

So if you wanted to get more bang for your buck on your X86 device it looks like you’re out of luck. Intel sees no reason to offer a watered down experience when they can offer the best Windows 8 experience out there. “Why would someone want to compromise when they don’t have to?” Noted Chris Walker Director of Business Development at Intel.

Intel is confident that Windows RT is not something that they will have to consider, we’ll only have a few months to find out if they can deliver on that promise. In the meantime check out a walk through of an unnamed Lenovo Thinkpad Slate running Clover Trail and Windows 8 at Computex 2012.

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  • Alexander Dobler

    It only makes Sense that they bring WIndows 8 RT to ARM instead of the Version with full Desktop. ARM Tablets would not be able to run any old Windows Software because it was written for x86. 

  • CyberGusa

    Even Medfield has Hyper Threading, but what should be interesting is whether Clover Trail makes use of the “Burst Mode” feature that was introduced with Medfield.

    Basically, “Burst Mode” is a more basic version of Intel’s “Turbo Boost” feature they utilize on the mid to upper end of the Core i-Series for a little extra performance on demand that worked within the limits of system tolerance and power consumption limits.  

    For the Medfield Z2460, this meant that it could go from it’s base clock speed of 1.3GHz to 1.6GHz when a little extra performance is needed.

    The higher end Medfield Z2560, which starts at 1.6GHz, should also have that feature but details are sketchy. 

    While it should be interesting to see how that feature effects performance on the dual core clover trail, assuming they include that feature of course but at the very least it should provide performance more comparable to the N-Series mobile ATOMs but with even better thermals and run time.