Atom Powered TabletPCs with Windows 8 May Prove Too Expensive

While the manufacturing cost of an ARM powered TabletPC is around 300 ~ 350 USD for a 10” model and 150 ~ 200 USD for a 7” model, Microsoft reportedly plans to charge tablet manufacturers a huge 90 ~ 100 USD for a Windows 8 ARM Edition.

We were talking about Intel’s strangely failed attempt at the mobile phone market a while ago and about the potentially successful entry into the TabletPC market where it stood a real chance against ARM platforms, thanks to the huge PowerVR GPU coming soon.

The thing is that this “successful entry” on the TabletPC market was mostly based on the fact that there weren’t as many restrictions when it came to heat dissipation and power consumption concerning TabletPCs in general.

Another Intel advantage was supposed to be Microsoft’s next Windows 8 operating system that was supposed to level the field in the tablet business as both ARM and x86 processors would have the same platform to show their muscle.

It seems that this is quickly becoming a huge disadvantage.

Microsoft asks a huge amount of money for a WoARM (Windows on ARM) license. It won’t provide support for currently windows compatible software, so the software base will be very limited at first.

Coupled with the fact that Intel’s CPUs and chipsets will certainly be more expensive than competing ARM platforms, Microsoft’s OS fee will certainly beat another nail in Atom’s coffin.

An equal or better performing Intel Atom powered tablet would probably stand a real change against a tablet using the powerful and efficient ARM Cortex A15 processor.

Even if it would have been a little bit pricier, Intel’s marketing money can brainwash any unsuspecting buyer and the Intel tablets would have stood a chance.

But add 30% (for Microsoft’s OS) next to those 10% to 30% (price difference for Intel’s platform) and you get a tablet that’s around 40% more expensive than an ARM based counterpart running Android.