Windows News and info 15th Anniversary 2009-2024

Windows 11 | Windows 10 Modifying => Hardware => Topic started by: javajolt on April 09, 2012, 12:58:07 AM

Title: Nvidia Tegra 4 chip leak whets appetite for non-iOS tablets
Post by: javajolt on April 09, 2012, 12:58:07 AM
(http://i44.tinypic.com/rmv41s.jpg)
Asus Transformer Prime uses an Nvidia quad-core Tegra 3. A faster quad-core Tegra 4 is coming.


A roadmap of Nvidia's next chip, the Tegra 4, could also be a blueprint for the internals of future Android and Windows tablets.

If VR-ZONE's sources (http://www.windows8newsinfo.com/smf/index.php?topic=20033.0) speak the truth, then we've got plenty of tablets packing quad-core A15 chips to look forward to.

What's an A15 you ask? That's the next chip design -- officially the Cortex A15 (http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/cortex-a15.php) -- from tablet and smartphone chip design powerhouse ARM.

Think of it this way: Four A15s are faster than the four Nvidia Tegra 3 Cortex-A9s now found in the Asus Transformer Prime. And the Transformer Prime is already pretty fast for a tablet. (Technically, Nvidia calls its quad-core Tegra 4-Plus-1 (http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/02/technology-formerly-known-as-vsmp-gets-a-new-stage-name-4-plus-1-2/) because there's a fifth battery-life-friendly core for less-demanding tasks.)

But getting back to tablets. Since Nvidia is aiming at both Android and Windows 8, that means we can expect tablets and/or hybrids in both camps with this silicon.

Starting in the first quarter of 2013, the 1.8GHz Tegra 4 should make an appearance in a "10-inch" device (read: tablet), according to VR-ZONE. Other Tegra 4 versions will appear in the third quarter of 2013.

It gets more curious for the future SP3X chip. That's listed as LTE (4G) capable. It's also spec'd as a chip with an older ARM A9 design. We'll have to wait for more deets from Nvidia before we can even begin to speculate about this one.