Instant-on computing is quickly becoming a saleable feature, at least Microsoft thinks so. Microsoft have released a video demonstrating a Windows 8 laptop cold booting in a few seconds. Instant-on is one of the impressive features of the popular tablet market, but in reality, what we see here on video is cold boot, not warm resume.
Basically the magic here is a new type of BIOS. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) will replace the decades old-BIOS we’re all used to. Clearly that white text on a black screen at power-on has needed to go for a while now, Windows 8 seems like it’ll be it. Does this mean that every Windows 8 machine will ship with UEFI, not at all, but after watching this video, it just become a must-have feature.
The HP Laptop used for the demo would also be utilising the speed of an SSD, wether it’s one that’s currently available is the next question. With boot times like this, restarting after installing updates won’t be such a headache.
More information from the all knowledgeable, Tom Warren over at WinRumors and Building Windows8 blog.
