Microsoft might pass Intel and NVIDIA for next Surface tablets

Neowin noticed various rumors about Microsoft's next Surface tablets, and it seems like Intel and NVIDIA may no longer be included in the mix. The site came across information that the Surface RT 2 will be a 8.6-inch tablet with a Qualcomm processor, as apposed to the NVIDIA Tegra in the current Surface RT. The new Surface Pro has an Intel Core i5 processor, but word on the street is that Microsoft will update this 11.6" tablet to AMD's yet-to-be-released Temash APU. This chip isn't anticipated to be available until mid-2013 though.

More surprising is the rumored inclusion of a Temash APU from AMD in the Surface Pro 2. Temash is the successor to AMD's current Hondo range of tablet-specific APUs (which combine CPU cores and a GPU on the die), however the Hondo chipsets have only just started to emerge so it will be a long while before Temash APUs are ready for production. Plus, with Microsoft's tight relationship with Intel it's odd that they would use an x86 AMD low-power chip over one from Intel. The third Surface rumor is that Microsoft is working on a 14.6" Surface Book, it's unknown what market Microsoft intends to target with such a large tablet but for this model the company will stick with Intel, it will use the upcoming 22nm Haswell chip. Perhaps the 10W TDP variant?

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