Asus: Yes, We're Planning an Oak Trail Tablet

By Jane McEntegart
published

After all this talk of the Tegra 2-powered Transformer, Asus is also working on an Intel-based tablet.

In the height of the netbook craze, it seemed Nvidia’s Tegra chipset couldn’t catch a break. Compared to the ubiquitous Atom processor, Tegra was in only a small percentage of devices. Fast forward a year or so and things have changed completely. We saw numerous Tegra 2 devices at CES, tablets and smartphones alike, and it seems there’s a new one launched every week.

However, despite the fact that many companies are embracing Tegra 2 when it comes to tablets, Oak Trail has ensured Atom won’t disappear anytime soon. Asus has just confirmed that though it has already got several Tegra 2 tablets planned (the EeePad Transformer and EeePad Slider were both confirmed at CES), it’s also working on an Oak Trail tablet.

Details about the upcoming device are scant. Over the weekend, Liliputing noticed that Intel’s Oak Trail press page contained a picture of the Tegra 2-based EeePad Slider (pictured right). This led to speculation that Asus had changed its mind and was instead going to go with an Intel chipset for Slider. Asus quickly dispelled rumors, confirming it was working on an Oak Trail platform but that it wasn’t the EeePad Slider, and Intel removed the image from the Oak Trail gallery. It’s likely this new Intel-based device will also run Windows, as Asus already has Android covered with the the Transformer and Slider (both run Honeycomb). We’ll keep you posted on this one.

Jane McEntegart
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tuch92
    "It’s likely this new Intel-based device will also run Intel"
    Android maybe?
    Reply
  • JMcEntegart
    tuch92"It’s likely this new Intel-based device will also run Intel"Android maybe?
    Oops, thanks! All fixed. :)
    Reply
  • I might actually get a tablet if it will run a full OS as well (and hardware keyboard). Maybe something like the slider... with a pen, preferably.
    Reply
  • psiboy
    An Atom is still an Atom no matter how many fancy names you give that piece of junk!
    Reply
  • kinggraves
    There's not much point in putting on Windows if you aren't using a keyboard. Bluetooth keyboards are usually an option though, and they could use a form factor that can fit the current Transformer dock.

    Rather have a Linux/Android dual boot though. Linux could cover the tasks that can't be done on Android without having to pay for a Win license.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    It would be nice if Intel came out with a true Atom competitor to go up against AMD's E-2xx and E-3xx series APU's.
    Reply
  • Atom piece of junk? It is not like Tegra 2 has sterling performance either. Atom only sin is power consumption.
    Reply
  • cloak trail. Sounds nasty.
    Reply
  • fyasko
    careful asus, you might get sued by apple.
    Reply
  • damianrobertjones
    'IF' it's an updated Asus EP121 with better battery life, Asus WILL be getting my money as that was/is the single negative factor of the 121. Strange that the article never mentioned the EP121, instead opting to have two paragraphs of filler.

    "There's not much point in putting on Windows if you aren't using a keyboard. "
    What are you smoking? How many Win7 tablets have you used? If you can clean install win7, tweak the services, install other applications, get onto a domain and pretty much use it like ANY OTHER tablet, then you may have missed something.
    Reply