Samsung aims to be no.1 in laptops – we talk to the top men in Seoul

5. WINDOWS 8 – ALL CHANGE

The upcoming launch of Windows 8 is shaking up the rather staid laptop market. The new operating system, with full support for touch-based interfaces, is bringing new challenges and opportunities for hardware manufacturers – Samsung executives told us that the growth in laptop sales was due to double next year as a direct result. Hybrid devices, similar to Asus’s Transformer range, and Windows Tablets dominated this year’s Computex show recently in Taiwan. Such a shake up is a big opportunity for Samsung of course, who should be able to blend its laptop and tablet expertise to make excellent hybrid devices, presuming that the separate IT and Mobile departments can work together.

The most obvious way to update traditional ‘clamshell’ laptops for Windows 8 is to simply switch out the normal display for a touchscreen one. Samsung isn’t sure whether this simple ‘fix’ will prove popular though, as reaching over a keyboard to prod at a screen has always seemed a little awkward and pointless. A big factor is obviously price, the addition of a big capacitative screen being a serious consideration, with Samsung describing it as “higher than the consumer would expect”. However, it does have around 20 engineers looking into user interface improvements, including “facial, gestural and emotional recognition”, which could make using your PC more instinctive, even without a touchscreen.

Samsung’s flagship Windows device next year will be this tablet/laptop hybrid PC, which uses a magnetic docking system

As well as a traditional version of Windows that will practically any PC program, a new Windows RT version will be released. Windows RT will appear largely identical to the standard version, but will run on ARM architecture processors that dominate the smartphone and tablet market. The big difference being that Windows RT will only run applications written specifically for it and sold through Microsoft’s Windows Store. Samsung admitted that it has a task force looking into Windows RT devices based around its on ARM-based processor designs – as used in Samsung’s smartphones. It estimates that ARM-based laptop and hybrid devices would gain up to two hours in battery life over current low-voltage Intel-based devices.

Though we’ve talked a lot about hardware here, it’s in software that Samsung most hopes to differentiate itself from other manufacturers. Using its expertise in developing Android applications, it hopes to move some of the user-interface lessons learnt there into exclusive apps for Windows 8. These apps could come pre-installed on Windows 8 devices, or be downloaded from a special Samsung section of the Windows Store.