How do I know this.
Golly, maybe because I work in the industry? Maybe because I know what Windows does, how it behaves, how it uses resources.
Ask yourself some really basic questions, things like “Why Windows?” What does Windows offer, that Android, iOS and WebOS do not?
There is a reason why HP cancelled and postponed the Win7 tablet for a freakin’ year. There is a reason why HP bought Palm’s WebOS instead of using MSFT. There is a reason why Folio, Motorola, Panasonic and Sony are all going with Android instead of MSFT. It’s not random.
There is a reason why WinCE failed, why Win7 Mobile is failing despite MSFT dumping Billions (with a ‘B’) into promoting it.
What takes more power? Speaking English and ONLY English - or understaning every known languages and translating them into grammarically perfect English?
Hardware acceleration does One/two formats - and that is all that the chip can understand. In the case of the iPad/iPhone the A4 chip can play H.264 or .mp4 encoded movies - and that is it. It will not play .avi, .wav, .mpeg, or anything else.
Why? Because the movie is played directly through the A4 chip. Now, you can install a progam like VLC that will ‘translate’ software into a format that the A4 chip understands - but that requires that the processor get invovled and do some processing. This takes power - so when you play VLC movies - you drop your ability to use the iPad from 10-12 hours down into the 2+ hour range.
Software Emulation always (as a rule) takes more power than Hardware Acceleration. It’s really that simple.