I’d say I’ve had more than a dozen people ask me what my Windows Build (Windows 8 DevPrev) “tablet” was like. I’d show it to them and they’d give me the usual it so big compared to an iPad response. There is clearly some confusion because it is a slate PC, not a tablet. So let’s clear it up:
Slate PC
What we got at Build was not a tablet. It was a slate PC. A slate PC is pretty much like a slim laptop with a touch screen and no keyboard. Characteristics include something like an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 CPU, it will have a relatively short battery life (compared to an iPad), and it probably has 2 GB to 4GB RAM … and it can run Windows at this time (Oct 2011). It is not a tablet, and Microsoft (to their credit) hasn’t tried to call it a tablet.
Tablet
The typical Android tablet and the iPad fall into this category. The Build slate PC does not. The key traits of this device type are driven by the need for long battery life. There is relatively little storage, not much memory, and the CPU is some low power thing like an A5 (iPad) or the Nvidia Tegra (as seen in Motoroal Xoom Android tablets). Traditional Intel/AMD processors are very different beasts with different instruction sets.
Microsoft currently has no offerings in this market. Their future in this market is based on the ARM “system on a chip” processor. This will mean that sometime in 2012 we get the usual x86 (Intel and AMD), x64 (Intel and AMD) media, along with with a new Windows 8 compile for ARM processors. Various vendors build ARM processors including Nvidia and Snapdragon. It wouldn’t surprise me to see MSFT set out a standard design for a Windows 8 tablet, much like they have done with Windows Phone 7.x handsets to avoid market fracturing as has happened in the Android world.
I’ve seen (but not used or touched) Windows 8 tablets. They are about the same size as Android tablets or iPads. They are nothing like slate PCs.
Ultrabook
Here comes Intel to confuse us some. I guess they are irked by the arrival into the Windows world of a new low power competitor in the form of ARM. The ultrabook is kind of laptop. Quite simply, it is to laptop what MacBook Air is to MacBook. It’s Intel’s attempt (with OEMs) to supply a lighter, thinner, sexier laptop to compete in the lightweight, long battery life market.
Like I said, it’s a mini laptop. It has a Core i5 or Core i7 CPU, GBs of RAM, and an SSD. Typically they are on the smaller side, but bigger than netbooks, at 13.3” (with some smaller variations). And advantage is the presence of a keyboard, which can be detachable. This could leave a touch screen device that might be easily confused with a slate PC.