Intel: Don’t Worry, Many More Hybrids Are Coming

Intel says there will be plenty of opportunities for the right Windows 8 hybrid to come along later this year.

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Just yesterday, I was lamenting how the perfect Windows 8 hybrid doesn’t exist yet. But in announcing the low-power version of its Haswell chipset, Intel says not to worry (emphasis mine):

Speaking at Computex Taipei 2013, Executive Vice President Tom Kilroy said Intel has more than 50 different 2-in-1 designs in the pipeline across a range of price points, including premium Ultrabook 2-in-1s powered by the new Intel Core processors, and other designs powered by forthcoming processors based on the company’s 22nm Silvermont microarchitecture.

Silvermont refers to a new low-power architecture that Intel will launch this holiday season, with Bay Trail being the name for the company’s quad-core tablet processors. Essentially, it’ll be a sequel to the existing Clover Trail chip found in hybrids like the HP Envy X2, but with big improvements in performance.

What Intel didn’t specify, interestingly enough, is what operating system these “50 different 2-in-1 designs” will run on. Windows 8 and Windows RT will obviously have a presence, but Intel is keen on being a player in Android devices as well. The company has already said that it hopes to power some $200 Android notebooks later this year.

Still, it seems like there will be plenty of opportunities for the right Windows 8 hybrid to come along. Now all we need is for PC makers to bring the hardware into existence.