Microsoft announced its own tablet PC for Windows [Video]

Microsoft in a special event in Los Angeles is a Tablet PC Surface, whose name is borrowed from existing industrial touchscreen computer. The head Steve Ballmer, presenting a novelty, said that "the pill" - part of the "new family", developed by the company.

 

There were two models announced Microsoft Surface: Operating System Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro. The model with Windows RT is equipped with a Nvidia's ARM-architecture, a slot for memory cards microSD, support for USB 2.0, HDMI connector and a battery capacity of 21.5 Wh. The thickness of the device is 9.3 mm, weight - 676 ​​A computer is available with built-in memory 32 or 64 GB. The package will include a package of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013 RT.

 

The second version, Windows 8 Pro, equipped with a processor Intel Core (demonstration model worked on the chip technology, Core i5 with Ivy Bridge), memory card slot for microSDXC, support for USB 3.0 connector and Mini DisplayPort. The battery in this model is 42 Wh. Thickness - 13.5 mm, weight - 903 model will be sold with 64 or 128 GB.

And she and the other model is equipped with 10.6-inch display, a closed protective glass Gorilla Glass 2. In the version of Windows RT display will have a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, while the model with Windows 8 Pro - 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD). Aspect ratio - 16:9. Both versions have two HD-cameras - front and rear, as well as built-in stereo speakers and microphone.

 

The tablet comes with a stand that is in the folded state is hidden in the body. It allows you to put the device at an angle to the table. As proposed accessory keyboard Touch Cover. This keyboard with a thickness of 3 mm, both will play the role of the cover that protects the screen. It also features a trackpad. The keyboard will be available in five colors: black, blue, orange, pink and white. Connection to a computer by using a magnet.

Keyboard Touch Cover has a touch-sensitive keys, which record the pressure of fingers. In addition to the Touch Cover, Microsoft suggested that Type Cover the keyboard with mechanical keys. Its thickness is 5 mm. The corporation did not specify what kind of keyboard will be included. In addition, the model with Windows 8 Pro will support pen input.

Proceed to the sales of Microsoft Surface Windows RT planned with the launch of Windows 8. Model 8 Pro with Windows scheduled for release within three months after the first model. RTM-output version of Windows 8 is expected in July, and general availability of the new operating system - in August. The specific cost of plates in the Microsoft did not name, promising to make it closer to the beginning of sales.

Announcement of the co-processors Intel Xeon Phi

During the event, International Supercomputing Conference, Intel announced a brand Intel Xeon Phi, which will be used to refer to all future products on the architecture of Intel Many Integrated Core Architecture (Intel MIC). Deliveries of the first such product shall commence before the end of this year. The first will be a family of co-processors under the symbol Knights Corner. As conceived by Intel, it will complement the family of CPUs, and Intel Xeon E5-2600/4600 will improve performance on tasks with a high degree of parallelism. The first generation of Intel Xeon Phi products will be focused on the use of supercomputers, but in the future, the manufacturer also expects to reach segments of the corporate VC and workstations.

 

The advantages of the Knights Corner Company considers the use of a familiar programming model for developers and compatibility with the tools to develop software for the architecture of Intel.

Co-processors Intel Xeon Phi will not only compatible with the software architecture models, x86, but can also be seen as separate applications to compute nodes, running its own OS based on Linux, regardless of the primary operating system and optimized for parallel computing. According to the manufacturer, it offers a high degree of flexibility in creating clusters, unattainable in the case of decisions based on the GPU.

 

Coprocessor is an expansion card for the bus PCI Express. It is a 22-nanometer chip, "with more than 50 kernels" , in the possession of which is "not less than 8 GB of memory GDDR5». Last year, Intel demonstrated a working one coprocessor Knights Corner , whose performance on the double-precision operations over 1 TFLOPS.

Although the serial products appear only at the end of the year, according to Intel, the first cluster based on Intel Xeon Phi 150 runs and took a position in the list of high-performance computers in the world Top500.