HP is moving ahead in getting Windows 8 products ready for the 2012 holidays. According to CEO Meg Whitman, “We have a product line lined up in Personal Systems Group on Windows on X86. We believe we’re going to be well-positioned for holidays on Window 8 x86.

No mention of ARM was made. So how an x86 Windows 8 implementation will work is not clear. ARM, after all, is supposed to be the chip that removes legacy operations. X86 is legacy, going back almost 30 years.

Another item that is in question are the hard drives that continue to be short of. Earlier, the hard disk drive shortage had a significant impact on HP revenue in Q1. And apparently this has affected the entire industry, not just HP, as the supply of hard drives was about 30 percent below expected demand. Consequently, HP was forced to ship servers that were not as highly configured as they would like because of this shortage.

Which brings us back toWindows 8. Since the new technology is as much about hardware as it is about software, then other manufacturers are bound to feel the same constraints. With new motherboards in the offing, this means that new hardware components will also be redesigned and also their corresponding drivers as well. So if there is going to be a viable Windows 8 operating system released by Q4, then there already is a lot of activity to make that happen.

Much rests on how dynamic Microsoft has been with the 3^rd party hardware producers, i.e., giving them the appropriate technical specs to allow them to patch their systems to Windows 8. But this means that Windows 8 must be in the final stages. The core must be ready, or it has been for at least a year. The UI area is probably the icing on the cake, and that may still be changing. If the core is still in the design phase, then this does not speak well for Windows 8. It will be a failure like Vista was.

Source: CNET

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Well would you look at that, I only published a story less than 24 hours ago about HP entering the tablet market with Windows 8 and then they go and confirm it just after. Typical! In fairness it probably isn’t much of a surprise, more of a coincidence that HP announced this news now. My post dabbled more with the idea of HP bringing back the TouchPad from the dead, but in a conference call with HP CEO Meg Whitman and an LA Times Analyst, HP cemented their commitment to entering the tablet market with Windows 8. However they didn’t say if they were going to be re-using the TouchPad brand.

Of course it’s no surprise that the worlds largest PC manufacturer is keen on entering the tablet race. However what people were curious to see is if HP decided to stick with their failed Web OS that they acquired from Palm this year, or if they should cut their losses and resort back to Windows 8. Based on this news, it looks like HP have decided to drop the Web OS from their tablet division in favour of Windows 8 as they’ve recognised the huge potential that Windows 8 can bring them. This is a bit of a U-turn for HP. Originally they had said that they would be working with Microsoft and bring out phones running Windows Phone 7. Then they dropped that in favour of Web OS which hasn’t been very successful for them at all.

HP’s CEO said that they were still trying to figure out what it is that they are going to do with Web OS.

This is what Whitman said,

“We’re at the beginning stages of a new segment in personal computing,” Whitman said of tablets in the call. She also said that she doesn’t believe it’s too late for HP to succeed in the tablet market and that “the work we do with Microsoft is extraordinary compelling.”

Whitman said in the call that HP’s Windows 8 tablets would launch sometime next year and that the company would be narrowing its focus to help the company succeed not just next year, but also in 2013, 2014 and the future.

“One of my observations is that HP tries to do a lot of things,” “And I am big believer in doing a small number of things really, really well — set them up, knock them down, set them up, knock them down.”

One rumour that’s been going around is that HP could be thinking of using the Web OS in a range of Ultrabooks. HP has remained surprisingly quiet when it comes to Ultrabooks. Most of the other major PC manufacturer’s like ASUS, Acer, Toshiba and Lenevo have all announced these ultra thin devices. Personally I hope to god that they don’t release Ultrabooks running the Web OS as I really don’t think it would be suitable for them at all.

Source:

LA Times 

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As tablets look set to be taking over the world one tablet at a time, HP and Dell are preparing to enter this hostile environment for themselves with Windows 8 tablets. The fierce competition between Android tablets and the iPad has shown that there is a real market for tablets. The recent announcement of the cut price Kindle Fire is only going to cause an inferno in the tablet wars (excuse the terrible pun).

HP and Dell are way behind when it comes to the tablet wars, and while both companies have had a crack at trying to get a foothold in this market, neither of these huge PC makers seem to be able to break in. Now however, with Windows 8 in the pipeline and shipping ready for tablets, that could all change. At Dell World las week, Dell CEO Michael Dell said that the Android opportunity hasn’t quite developed to expectations, but the wide range of Windows 8 tablets that they have planned should see them finally getting off the ground.

The new Windows 8 Metro UI is perfectly suited for tablets and while Microsoft have claimed that they are not trying to get rid of the traditional desktop interface, they are certainly distancing themselves from it.

The chances are that Dell will focus their tablets more at the business end of things, while HP will be looking to target the general consumer more so. According to reports from Digitimes, HP and Dell are expected to launch their tablets in the third quarter of 2012, which is also expected to be the release date for Windows 8.

I think that the success on these new Windows 8 tablets will depend critically on timing. Dell and HP need to make sure that their tablets will be ready to go the second that Windows 8 is released to the general public. They need to jump on the bandwagon and ride along the hype that will be surrounding Windows 8 and make sure that they’re in there for the holiday season, and at a reasonable price.

The future of Windows 8 based tablets remains to be seen, but if manufacturers like Dell and HP do this properly, they could be a huge success.

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HP in a partnership with Microsoft release the first of four appliances based on HP hardware and Microsoft software.  The first appliance to ship will be the HP Business Decision Appliance. This product will help companies making business intelligence accessible . Tthis new solution is pre-configured and fine tuned for business users to gain insight into extensive quantities of data through Microsoft tools, leading to better, faster and more relevant business decisions.  By using a preconfigured stack that leverages familiar Microsoft technologies for authoring and sharing data, businesses will have at one location the ability to process data from a variety of different sources.

Business users will be able to use  tools like Microsoft Excel and SharePoint, which will allow IT resources to be shifted from running ad hoc reports to new initiatives. One example is workbooks.  Based on Microsoft SharePoint,  they are accessible,  and provide streamlining collaboration and decision making. Workbooks are also updated automatically as data sources change.

Installation is easy as automated process delivers consistent and error free deployment, it is also connected to Active Directory allowing customers to focus on their business issues not the infrastructure. Another feature is that sample data enables day zero proof of concept, which will immediately demonstrate the benefits of Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft SharePoint with minimal resources.

There is also a management dashboard for a single pane of glass. This will increase administrator productivity by providing access to common applications, and offer maintenance, and hardware management.

Sometime within the next 6-8 weeks,  the second appliance from this collaboration, the HP E5000 Messaging System for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

The last two appliances scheduled for 2011 release are, the Business Intelligence appliance, based on Microsoft SQL Server, and are the HP Database Consolidation appliance and the Business Data Warehouse appliance. The actual release dates for these devices have not been finalized.

Source: HP

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It’s been the most anticipated tablet product of the last year, but finally HP unveiled its WebOS powered TouchPad tablet yesterday along with two new WebOS mobile phones.

HP acquired palm last year for $1.2bn at a time when the company was gearing up to launch a Windows 7 tablet.  As expected, everything went very silent for a while.  In a statement, Todd Bradley, the chief executive vice president of HP’s personal systems group told reporters ”Our intention with webOS devices is to transform how people think, how they feel and how they connect.”

There’s no doubting that WebOS is the only tablet operating system capable of giving the iPad a bloody nose but while the device has been unveiled, precious little extra information is available about it.  HP have said that the TouchPad will go on sale in the summer.  It will be powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and feature 16 or 32Gb of storage, an accelerometer, compass and gyroscope.  There will also be a 3G version.

Their two new WebOS smartphones, the 2.6 inch Veer and the 3.6 inch Pre3 will also be on sale by the summer.  While the Veer is an alternative to “jumbo phones”, the Pre3 will have a slide-out keyboard.

There’s no word yet on pricing for any of the devices.

In addition to these devices, HP announced plans to bring WebOS to laptop and desktop computers, which will put it firmly against Microsoft and Windows 7.  How well WebOS would work on a desktop computer remains to be seen, but there can be little doubt that the TouchPad will act as a major roadblock to Windows 7 tablets.

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HP have announced their new Touchsmart 610 and Touchsmart 9300 desktop computers and have added a twist to the touch-screen desktop market.  The new computers have a screen that pivolts from an upright position into a low angle for using as a multi-touch display.

The hardware itself is impressive with both Intel and AMD procvessors available, up to 16Gb of RAM, up to 1Tb of storage, a blu-ray drive and even the option to install an SSD.

The design is most unusual though I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a product searching for a market.

The general update of all-in-one multi-touch PCs hasn’t been anywhere near as pronounced as with other types of computer and people aren’t buying them for the multi-touch capability.

With these new computers, HP is obviously trying to create a system where the multi-touch capabilities become easier for people to use, this simply isn’t the case with an upright PC.

So it’s an odd thing this new form-factor, not quite desktop and not quite tablet.  This raises questions over who would want such a device and what uses they would put it to.

The most obvious choice here would be artists and graphic designers who would use it instead of a traditional graphics tablet.  Clearly HP have thought of this by offering such generous specifications for the hardware.

It won’t be cheap though.  The 610 is due to sell for $900 and there’s no price yet on it’s big brother.

Both machines will sport 23 inch screens when they ship and it will be very interesting to see how sales go.

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Engadget has obtained renders of one of two new WebOS-enabled tablets from HP.  The machines will be called, Topaz, a 9 inch tablet and Opal, which will feature a 7 inch screen.

It’s rumoured that the company will unveil the tablets officially on February 9th at an upcoming promotional event.

At the moment we know very little about these tablets except that they appear to have an front-facing webcam and a micro-USB port on the bottom.  Because of the placement of the USB port these are clearly not tablets intended to be placed landscape in a dock, in the way many other tablets, such as the WIndows 7 powered ExoPC are.

Engadget is reporting that the first shipping units should start arriving in June with a worldwide launch later in the year.  They say…

a timeline backed up by an internal marketing slide we received that lists WiFi-only, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE versions of the Opal arriving in September 2011, and on AT&T LTE in July 2012. The slide also indicates the Opal will have a particular e-reading focus, which makes sense for a 7-inch device, and there’s a mention of “premium audio”

If there is any tablet operating system that will give Windows a kicking it’s WebOS and these tablets have been raising significant interest since the first announcement that HP was buying Palm.  We look forward to seeing a fully working product and will try to get one here to review at Windows7News.

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It’s been the will-they / won’t-they question of 2010 after computing giant HP bought the struggling smartphone maker Palm.  Would they scrap their expected Windows 7 tablet in favour of one running Palm’s new WebOS operating system, or would they release both.

Well there’s now been an answer as the company has announced that next year they will be releasing a WebOS tablet, and speculation is the name might be the PalmPad.  The device is due to arrive in the first quarter next year, which means that HP will have missed the valuable Christmas season.

But the news doesn’t end there!  HP have also said “You’ll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future and a webOS-based product in early 2011.” so they’ve not dropped Windows 7 either.

Nobody knows how tablets are going to sell and which OS will win out over time, so it could make good business sense for HP to try two differing operating systems to see which one their customers prefer.  Alternatively they may just be recognising that consumers are an extremely wide-ranging bunch, and that there is a place to two completely differing operating systems in the same market.

Either way, we now have our answer.  HP will be releasing tablets with BOTH Windows 7 and WebOS in the next nine months.

Source : PreCentral

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In the latest twist in the Will they / Won’t they, HP Tablet / Windows 7 story, the company has now filed a trademark application for “PalmPad”, as reported by Engadget.

The company has previously stated quiet categorically that it had no plans to release tablets running the WebOS operating system that HP acquired when they bought Palm recently.  It seems surprising though just how quickly plans can change.

At the moment this is all we know and it leaves the future of Windows 7 on HP Tablets looking decidedly uncertain.  Windows 7 was HP’s OS of choice for their tablets until Palm went up for sale.  Then all of a sudden the company looked to be jumping ship while at the same time regularly praising Windows 7 and reaffirming their commitment to it.

Neither HP nor Microsoft have made any statement about the trademark application.  We expect to see the first Tablet device from HP, running whatever OS ends up going on it, later this year.

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According to research by IDC, the global PC market grew by 22.4% in the second quarter of 2010.  This is good news for the global economy and explains the strong sales figures that Microsoft have been reporting for WIndows 7.

In their report they said…

Despite rising worries over sovereign debt and the pace of economic recovery, the global PC market grew 22.4% in the second quarter of 2010 (2Q10), in-line with forecasted growth of 22.9%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The market in EMEA remained remarkably strong – benefiting from some recovery as well as commercial replacements – while growth in the United States and Asia/Pacific was slightly behind projections.

“The PC market remains robust, and in a recovery phase, despite challenges to a broader economic recovery, such as slow job growth and a more conservative outlook in Europe and Asia/Pacific,” said Jay Chou, research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “The factors which led to the recent PC rebound – an aging commercial installed base, a proliferation of low-cost media-centric PCs, and low PC penetration through much of the world – remain key drivers going forward.”

They said that in the US the market grew 12.6% from the previous year, although a much-hoped increase of between 18% and 25% did not materialise.  The Asia/pacific region however grew by a substantial 35% compared to the year before, which could be explained by the continued economic boom in China, which did not suffer in the global economic downturn.

HP performed best with 14.2% growth in the US and 11% elsewhere, Dell followed closely behind in the number of shipments and grew a whole 19% on the previous year.  Lenovo and Toshiba both saw excellent growth figures for their laptops with 47% and 26% increases respectively.

You can read the full report here.

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Touch has been all the rage since Apple launched the iPhone and the next 12 months will see a number of new touch PCs and devices hit the market, including several running Windows 7.  HP have launched a serious touch PC contender in the HP TouchSmart 600, which has a slim form factor and is a convertible tablet PC.

The HP TouchSmart 600 promises accurate fingertip responses thanks to ‘capacitive touch’ technology, up to eight hours standby time and comes with a whopping 23″ 1080P Full HD display so don’t expect to put this on your lap or to rival an Apple iPad.  Prices for the HP TouchSmart 600 start at £1,000, placing it squarely against PC users rather than laptop users.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL8EGFT6SRA]

From the video you can see that the HP TouchSmart 600 supports multi-touch, with zoom in/out, rotate, scroll, move with a pinch, twist, flick ad drag gesturs all suported.  For when a finger won’t suffice, a digital pen is also included allowing handwritten notes, diagrams and annotations.

“HP has been developing touch expertise over four generations of tablet PCs and our touch technology has already transformed the way users interact with their notebooks. This is our most sophisticated and versatile machine to date and continues to build on our heritage of innovation in touch technology.”  Charl Snyman, vice president and general manager for HP Personal Systems Group  (EMEA).

Would you replace your family PC with a Touch PC?

More: HP TouchSmart 600

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Despite mock-ups from enthusiasts of how the new Windows Phone 7 series operating system could look like on a tablet device, Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer has now announced at an event in Singapore…

We’re focused on putting Windows Phone 7 in phones, no plans for tablets

In the very brief announcement hopes may well be scuppered for lots of fans who were anticipating a tablet version of the OS to compete with Android and WebOS.

Microsoft are clearly, and very sensibly, focused on getting the smart phone experience right, and with the first Windows Phone 7 handsets due out in Q4 this year there’s still a lot of work to do.

This announcement doesn’t mean that Microsoft will never put the Windows Phone 7 OS on a tablet, just that it’s not what they’re working on at the moment.  Once the first generation of phones is out of the door the company will probably look at the feasibility of such a move and decide then.

So what does this mean for tablets?  At the moment the OS of choice appears to be Android which is a capable OS but possibly not as well suited to the tablet form factor as iPhone OS of WebOS.

There are still rumours of WebOS seeing it’s first tablet outing on a possible Slate device from HP later this year after their acquisition of Palm is complete.  Whether the company will then licence WebOS for other devices from other manufacturers is anybody’s guess at this point, however if the company sees the operating system as a strong competitor against the iPad and Android, they will probably consider it.

What’s different about this current situation is with the world economy still struggling, many companies are playing their cards close to their chests.  At the height of the boom Ballmer may well have come out and boomed that he sees Windows Phone 7 OS on every device including your refrigerator.

Via : WMExperts

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It was a safe bet that after HP acquired Palm they would be integrating WebOS into their own portable devices, but with the deal not even complete until the summer many thought it would be too early to port the OS to their rumoured tablet device.

Never the less rumours are doing the rounds as Engadget has today reported  that WebOS really will feature on the new HP slate.

What we need to do though it put some thought and reality into this situation.  As Engadget rightly point out, there’s no evidence that the HP Slate will ever be coming to market.  It’s a concept device and the rumours about Microsoft’s Courier tablet coming to market also proved to be unfounded.

Secondly, and this is much more important.  There would need to be a considerable amount of work done with WebOS to make it ready for these new devices.  While it’s certainly a very interesting concept that would suit a tablet device very well, some members of the tech community have a habit of getting a little excited.

But it’s interesting that excitement is still growing about slate and tablet devices.  This is an excellent thing and just proves that Apple’s iPad has indeed reinvigorated the market and shaken it up in the way we all needed to happen.

What’s required now is for companies like HP to get their skates on and make sure that their Slate device does come to market and that it does feature a user-friendly OS like the one they’ve acquired from Palm.

If that all sounds a little contradictory given what I’ve just said you shouldn’t be too surprised.  While the recent rumours are just that, rumours, they really do indicate the way in which companies like HP need to move forward, and move forward to quickly to capitalise on the momentum from Apple and the eagerness and good-will from customers around the world.

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In a video round table discussion, industry experts highlight the critical path for enterprise customers  in their journey of migration to Windows 7.

The application compatibility specialist company, App-DNA, unveiled today two videos that highlight what the application migration and compatibility issues are that organisations face as they move to Windows 7.

The roundtable discussion, hosted by Cliff Saran, a technology journalist, features conversations from Andy Wray, the head of Microsoft Practice at HP, also Chris Jackson, Microsoft’s App-DNA’s Compatability specialist, and Paul Schnell, CTO of App-DNA.

It is no accident that the key discussion points include items that have been mentioned from time to time in this blog sites. They include discussions about moving to Windows 7 and desktop deployment:

• Why enterprises are moving to Windows 7 so soon
• Why Service Pack 1 isn’t delaying the market
• Why this is the ideal opportunity to optimize your desktops
• Where virtualization, 64-bit and server-based computing fit in

In the area of application deployment the topics include:

• The new record for number of apps in one enterprise (the old record was 91,000!)
• Why app compatibility is THE Number 1 challenge
• What the main stumbling blocks are for the apps that will struggle to migrate
• How you can emerge from this migration with much better app management processes

Journey to Windows 7

App-DNA is a worldwide leader providing compatibility testing for applications based on Microsoft and Citrix platforms. Their AppTitude product is an application compatibility testing solution that can provide a quick and throrough assessment of all of an organization’s applications.

Using the expertise of these three technical specialists, video watchers will get a better perspective about what makes Windows7 a success.  Luck is not a part of the equation.  Methodical testing, exhaustive remodeling, and a consumer oriented goal has been part of the fabric making the Windows 7 flagship what it is today.

To see the videos go here.

App-DNA

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News is coming in from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – Steve Ballmer’s keynote touched upon not only Windows 7, but also the recently announced HP multi-touch Slate tablet. The first official pictures of the prototype have been released:

Courtesy electricpig.co.uk

One bit of the speculation surrounding the Slate tablet was that it might run Microsoft’s Courier, a concept OS that is supposed to look and act like a book. Instead, the Slate will be running Windows 7, which as we know has quite a few new multi-touch features.

Another piece of data that came to light was that the Slate would include the PC version of Amazon’s Kindle software, meaning that you can download and view books from Amazon.com just as you would on a regular Kindle. (This begs the question: why buy a Kindle if you can get a much more capable device that can read E-books and also run all available Windows software? But I digress.)

Little more information was given by Ballmer – no hardware specs or battery life information, though I expect HP will opt for either an Atom processor or an Intel Ultra Low Voltage processor, the only chips that really make sense given the size and purpose of the tablet.

No pricing information was given, though Ballmer stated that it would cost about as much as a high-end smart phone – speculation puts it in the $500-700 range.

Last on the list of information we don’t yet have, the release date for the tablet has not yet been announced, but since HP obviously announced this tablet to steal some thunder from Apple’s rumored tablet announcement later this month it’ll be interesting to see how the company responds to Apple’s release date.

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The launch of Windows 7 has shown how successful an Operating System change over can be if it is done right. In keeping with the expectation that Windows 7 will be embraced by many users, Microsoft in conjunction with several computer manufacturers and retailers have put together a marketing offer for reduced computer hardware if purchased within 7 days.  The program is called 7 days of Windows 7 Savings.

These are some of the  21 special offers for computers  in the Windows 7 program. But it is only good for a limited time as it ends October 28, 2009.

Here is an overview of some of the computers in the program.

1. Best Buy:PC Home MakeOver

HP Laptop, netbook, desktop & monitor package  with Windows 7 Package includes:

• Space-saving HP Slimline desktop (s5212y)
• Thin-profile 18.5″ LCD monitor (w1858)
• Media-savvy HP laptop (G60-535DX)
• Compact HP Mini netbook (110-1125NR)
• Speedy NETGEAR Wireless-G router (WGR614)
• Seamless in-home setup of the PCs and router by Geek Squad

Price: $1,199.99

Other computers and laptops are available at BestBuy

2. Dell Studio XPS 13

Price $999.00

3. Acer offers a touch screen PC and several laptops.

Acer AZ5610-U9072 23-Inch

All-in-One Desktop PC

(Windows 7 Home Premium)

Price: $860.00

4. Asus

Several laptops and desktops are offered in the 7 day sale.

Models offered through Amazon.com

5. HP

Six different computers and laptops are in the HP inventory for the Windows7 special offer.

HP Pavilion dv4t Series Laptop $579.99

HP Pavilion dv6t Series Laptop $679.99

HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition Series Laptop $1299.99

HP Pavilion p6280t Series  Desktop $549.99

HP Pavilion Elite e9250t Series Desktop $849.99

HP TouchSmart 600t Series Desktop $1,049.99

6. Lenovo

Lenovo has three laptops on sale.

ThinkPad W700 laptop 1275.00

ThinkPad T400 laptop $705.00

ThinkPad SL510 laptop $450.00

7. Sony This Touch screen PC  comes with a 24″ screen and 6 gb of Ram.

VAIO® L Series All-in-One Touchscreen $1799.00

7.  Toshiba

Satellite® L500 and A500 Series $424.15 and 662.15

There are certain to be more special offers but this group shows variety. Something that demonstrates the versatility and features of Windows 7.

Source:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/offers/7-days/

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Courtesy Techtree.com

Acer and HP, among others, do not want you upgrading your current computer to Windows 7.

Maybe that’s a little dramatic – let me clarify. Often, when a new OS releases, PC manufacturers will simply begin selling it on their current machines instead of the older version of the operating system. Things are a little different now than they were when Windows Vista was released, though – flagging PC sales and the excellent press that Windows 7 has been getting means that computer makers are milking the new OS for all it’s worth.

First, HP, who yesterday announced nearly a dozen new PCs in their new Windows 7 PC lineup. Most notable among these is a new consumer-oriented TouchSmart tablet PC starting at $799, and two new TouchSmart all-in-one desktop PCs which start at $899 for a 20-inch model and $1049 for a 23-incher.

Key in HPs strategy for both home and office PCs is Windows 7′s multi-touch capabilities, and if these models are successful I can see touch capability becoming standard on computers just as webcams are becoming standard. HP’s DV3 laptop, a Europe-only model for now, is a standard laptop which happens to have a touch screen – this could be a glimpse of the future.

Acer’s lineup is more modest than HP’s – just two laptops, one a 15-inch touchscreen model going for $800, the other an 11.6-inch not-quite-a-netbook that lists for $600. As with HP, if Acer’s touchscreen model is a hit, expect to see more of them.

The smaller of Acer’s offerings highlights another interesting trend in computing lately, the combination of the netbook and the ultraportable computer.

The rise of the netbook let PC manufacturers know that bigger was not always better, that there was a market for smaller, less powerful, less feature-rich PCs. The problem for consumers is that these computers were sometimes too stripped-down, not offering enough functionality or being too small to use comfortably. The problem for manufacturers is that, at $300-$400, margins on these products are razor-thin.

Now, Acer and Dell and others are offering something in between – 11 and 12-inch screen sizes offer the portability and weight of a netbook, while low-voltage Core 2 Duo processors and newer integrated graphics provide more computing power than the standard Intel Atom paired with the anemic and aging GMA 950. These units also sell in the $500-$600 range, the same as low-end 15-inch notebooks, a price point with which manufacturers seem more comfortable. Windows 7′s more modest system requirements means that these ultraportables can finally run a modern OS instead of the eight-year-old Windows XP.

What’s my point, you ask? When Vista came out, faster was better, not least because you wanted the fastest computer you could get to run Vista at a reasonable speed. Now, Windows’ increased flexibility in terms of features and system requirements is leading to a larger variety of computers on the market. In short, consumers get more choice – it seems like lately there’s a computer tailored to almost any task you could imagine, and that’s definitely a good thing.

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A recent Business Week article entitled Windows 7: Microsoft vs. the PC Makers outlines the problems that PC Makers like Dell, HP or Sony have with Microsoft’s Windows 7 price expectations. According to the article PC Makes have to cope with lower hardware sale prices, the rise of the low cost netbook market and Microsoft’s expectations. Microsoft is expecting PC Makers to pay $50 for the Windows 7 Home Starter Edition which is two to three times the price that they currently pay for Windows XP licenses. Windows 7 Starter has been designed for the low cost market only which means that Microsoft does not allow PC Makers to license the operating system for larger notebook or desktop computer systems.

More interesting than that is the comment of Mike Abary, a senior vice-president at Sony’s (SNE) Vaio PC unit, who mentions that Windows 7 Home Premium would raise the price of larger notebooks by $200.

The cost of Windows could rise more sharply on other machines. Microsoft has told PC makers the $50 Starter Edition will be available only for netbooks with screen sizes smaller than 10.2 inches and chips that aren’t capable of playing most games or watching video. Larger netbooks would have to use Windows 7 Home Premium, which would add $200 to a unit’s cost, says Mike Abary, a senior vice-president at Sony’s (SNE) Vaio PC unit.

The question here is if the $200 is a special price for PC Makers or the retail price of the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. Only 16% of all users who have voted in our latest poll expect Windows 7 to cost $201 or more with an additional 16% thinking that it will cost between $151-$200.

Would you buy Windows 7 Home Premium if it would cost $200 or even more than that?

Windows 7 Home Premium To Cost $200? was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.