X

TI whips out latest ARM chip for Windows 8 tablet

Texas Instruments 4470 ARM chip will be inside a Windows 8 tablet at CES.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
See full bio
Brooke Crothers
TI's latest processor will be shown running inside a Windows 8 tablet.
TI's latest processor will be shown running inside a Windows 8 tablet. Texas Instruments

LAS VEGAS--Texas Instruments is showing its latest and greatest ARM processor inside a Windows 8 tablet at CES this week.

TI's OMAP4470, the latest version of its dual-core chip now inside Android tablets, will be shown running on a pre-release version of a Windows 8 tablet, the chipmaker said today.

"The OMAP4470 processor's...powerful multitasking capabilities prove the ideal match for Windows 8 key features including a fast & fluid touch-first user interface," TI said in a statement.

TI ARM chips are being used today in high-profile Android tablets such Motorola's XyBoard and Toshiba's ultra-skinny Excite X10. The 4470 is a performance upgrade of the 4460.

"The company calls it the OMAP 4470, but it is more than just a faster speed grade of the OMAP 4460; the new design includes significant graphics and memory improvements as well," mobile chip analyst Linley Gwennap wrote in a blog last year.

The 4470 pairs its main CPUs (central processing unit) with programmable accelerators, hardware composition engines, and Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX544 GPU (graphics processing unit), TI said.

"Our partnership with platform leaders such as TI help take full advantage of ARM architecture, with new capabilities that enable compelling new PCs and user scenarios," Aidan Marcuss, senior director of Windows Core Marketing & Ecosystem, Microsoft said in a statement.