Intel unveils 10.1″ Android tablet based on Core M processor

Intel showed a reference design of an Android tablet powered by a processor from the recently announced Core M series during a presentation at Computex. The tablet has a 10.1″ quad-HD screen and weighs 560 grams.

Android tablets with Intel hardware are not new, Samsung, for example, already released a Galaxy Tab with an Intel chip. Until now, however, manufacturers have always used the company’s frugal Atom chips. The Core M chips, based on the Broadwell architecture, are derived from desktop processors and a lot more powerful. Thanks to the 14nm process used, they would be economical enough to be used in a compact device such as a tablet. Intel often makes reference designs as examples for manufacturers. It is not yet known whether there are any manufacturers that will actually bring a similar product to the market.

The 560 gram 10.1″ reference design

The first products with Core M chips will be Windows devices and they should be released this year. They will most likely be 2-in-1 devices, similar to the “Llama Mountain” design Intel showed early this week. That device consists of a 12.5″ tablet with quad-HD screen that can be placed in a dock. The tablet is cooled without fans, but as soon as it is clicked into the dock, fans blow air from the dock over the outside of the the tablet, increasing TDP by 4W and unlocking up to 30 percent of extra performance Asus is already known to be working on its own version of the Llama Mountain design, the Transformer Book T300 Chi.

The PCB with Core M chip from Intel’s reference designs.