device, chosen the Windows version you need, and picked out the type of PC or device that suits your fancy, there’s one more area of concern. And it concerns new hardware capabilities, some of which won’t be available on certain PCs or devices.
With each new Windows release, Microsoft supports a wider range of hardware devices and peripherals, of course. But with Windows 8 and the new portable scenarios that are opened up by tablets, Ultrabooks, and hybrids, the possibilities have expanded dramatically. And many of these possibilities are tied directly to new hardware capabilities that you should be aware of.
Here are some of the more relevant new hardware capabilities you should consider.
While Windows has offered pervasive multi-touch support since Windows Vista, the release of Windows 8 has changed things pretty dramatically. Instead of simply tacking multi-touch support on top of Windows as was done in previous releases, Windows 8 has been re-architected so that multi-touch is a full-fledged input type, alongside the mouse and keyboard. And in the new Metro environment, multi-touch is arguably even better supported than is mouse and keyboard. It is, as Microsoft puts it, a touch-first environment.
We discuss multi-touch throughout this book, but it’s important to know that multi-touch isn’t just relegated to tablets. In fact, once you start using Windows 8 via multi-touch, you’re going to expect this capability on all of your PCs. And not surprisingly, multi-touch devices of all kinds have come to market alongside Windows 8, including touch-capable displays that can attach to desktop computers, and touch-based Ultrabooks, hybrid PCs, and even all-in-ones.
You may not believe it until you try it. But once you’ve experienced multi-touch, you’ll find yourself touching all of your screens, whether they’re touch-capable or not.
Still not convinced? Know this: Microsoft requires that all Windows 8 devices support at least five touch points. That translates to a hand of fingers—or foot of toes—that are able to interact with Windows and apps all at once. And many devices will of course support even more touch points.
Check out Chapter 3 for more information about Metro and its multi-touch interactions.
While Windows’s support for power management has evolved over the years, the new emphasis on highly portable computing in Windows 8 has triggered the development of an excellent new power management mode called Connected Standby. This mode isn’t generally available on PCs created before 2012 and is designed for new, highly portable devices that will only rarely be turned off. In other words, it works much like power management on a modern smartphone.
Instead of using a standard sleep state, Connected Standby allows your PC or device to enter a nearly powerless state in which battery life is only minimally impacted but Metro-style apps can run in the background, performing tasks like updating e-mail and triggering notifications. Of course, traditional desktop applications are unaware of this new power mode, so Windows 8 utilizes a new Desktop Activity Monitor to reduce the resource utilization of desktop applications while in this mode.
Connected Standby is available in all Windows 8 versions, including Windows RT, but will work best on new hardware designed specifically for this mode. But even if your PC or device doesn’t support Connected Standby, Windows 8 includes numerous power management improvements that should improve battery life and performance when compared to performing similar tasks in Windows 7.
Many of Windows 8’s new capabilities are inspired by smartphones and other highly mobile devices and the new wireless scenarios these devices enable. Key among these capabilities is a support for a variety of sensors, small hardware devices that provide interaction between the outside world and Windows itself. Some of the new scenarios supported by Windows 8 and sensors include:
• Adaptive screen brightness control: In the past, controlling screen brightness was at best semi-automatic. You could manually configure a brightness setting in Power Options. Or those with portable computers could use power modes to automatically change the screen brightness to one of two settings, depending on whether the machine was attached to power. In Windows 8, the situation is much more sophisticated, and if you have a PC or device with an ambient light sensor (ALS), Windows 8 will automatically change the brightness of the screen on the fly. This capability is better for your eyes and for readability, but it can also improve battery life when you use the PC or device in a dimly lit area.
• Automatic screen rotation: Tablets and hybrid devices and other screens can utilize an accelerometer to determine the orientation of the screen and rotate the on-screen display appropriately as it’s changed. This type of activity is common on smartphones and, with Windows 8, it’s come to PCs as well.
• Tilt and motion: Using a gyroscope sensor, a Windows 8-based PC or tablet can register its movements in 3-D space, providing feedback to games and apps. In this way, you might tilt a tablet forward to accelerate during a driving game, or tilt the device to the left and right to steer. This isn’t limited to just games, however, and the types of motions gyroscope sensors can detect—including shakes, twists, and rotations in multiple dimensions—are quite sophisticated.
• Location and directions: Using a standard GPS sensor, a Windows 8 PC or device can accurately report its geographic location and then plot routes and distances to other destinations. Mapping and driving apps are obvious applications for this capability.
• Compass: Using a 3-D accelerometer and a 3-D magnetometer, or a gyroscope, a Windows 8 PC or device can emulate a compass. In fact, they can be used to create a multi-axis, tilt-sensitive compass.
Utilizing new Near Field Communication (NFC) chipsets, Windows 8-based PCs and devices can send content to another compatible device (Windows 8 PC or device, Windows Phone 8, or other NFC-compatible device) using a new method called Tap to Send. This method additionally requires a unique tap zone on the device’s exterior, which is used to initiate a send or receive action, but even without this part, NFC can still be used via Bluetooth to send information wirelessly.
So what’s the big deal with NFC? As an emerging standard, NFC is being used to perform contactless (that is, wireless) payments at retail locations, data exchanges, and other duties. And while these activities may seem better suited to a smartphone, the inclusion of NFC in Windows 8 means that these PCs and devices will be able to participate with coming NFC-based systems as well.
New Windows 8-based PCs and devices will utilize a new type of firmware called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, or UEFI, instead of the old-fashioned BIOS firmware we’ve been using for decades. UEFI provides many advantages over BIOS, but key among them is performance: UEFI-based PCs and devices will boot much more quickly than those based on BIOS.
UEFI offers other advantages over BIOS, of course. The user interface for this firmware type can be graphical instead of text-based like BIOS. And it enables a new security feature called Secure Boot that protects system components from tampering during boot.
UEFI and Secure Boot are discussed a bit more in Chapter 12.
Don’t buy a Windows 8 PC that includes only USB 2.0 ports. Rated at throughput speeds of up to 5 Gbps, USB 3.0 is up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 (480 Mbps), which can have a significant impact on the performance of certain peripherals, especially hard disks.
