Microsoft’s range of Surface tablets haven’t proved to be as popular as the tech giant might had hoped, but it seems that Steve Ballmer and co. are ready to plough yet more money into a second generation range.
The current Surface and Surface RT models sport Intel chips, but it’s been confirmed that Nvidia will get in on the act for the second range. Speaking to CNET recently, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang confirmed that the company will be working together with Microsoft on a new range of Surface tablet computers.
“Now we’re going to bring it with the second-generation Surface. We’re working really hard on it, and we hope that it’s going to be a big success,” noted Huang. He also confirmed that the next Surface to contain his company’s chip will also run Microsoft Outlook RT.
Nvidia has made a big name for itself in the mobile market by creating highly powerful chips for smartphones and tablets, including the Tegra 3 and more recently the Tegra 4. With this in mind, it’s likely that Nvidia will produce another ARM-based chip for Microsoft, which means that the Surface RT will live on.
The view on Windows RT has been even more dim than the success of the Surface RT itself, with Asus already severing its ties with the OS and refusing to make any more products which use it.
Considering that the current Surface range hasn’t been out long, the admission of a successor from a major manufacturing partner has come as quite a surprise. Still, we know that Microsoft wants Windows 8 and touchscreen computing to really take off, so we had always anticipated more money being thrown into new tablet projects.
What would you like to see in a second generation Surface tablet?