Windows 8.1 Features

Display and Graphics

The display and graphics enhancements in Windows 8.1 include:

• Native support for hybrid graphics.
• WDDM 1.3 for certification
• Support for high DPI/PPI displays
• Support for independent multi-monitor scaling. Each display can have different scaling and up to 16 separate displays supported
• New diagnostic tools for DirectX app issues
• Higher performance and more efficient rendering
• Support for small tablet sizes (less than 10inches)

Video/Audio enhancements

The Video/Audio enhancements on Windows 8.1 include:

• 48Hz playback will dynamically start and play movies at 24FPS video with no flicker to improve battery life.
• Overlay support to improve GPU power management.
• Full HD on SOC/ARM (This feature on Windows 8 was limited to 720p).
• Hardware now has a method of playing end of buffers and switching to the next song in a timely manner. Systems will no longer wake up to attempt to play long silences in recordings.
• Multi-stream audio will no longer degrade VOIP calls and VOIP users will receive correct audio effects.

Security and TPM

The Security and TPM enhancements on Windows 8.1 are:

• Improved Bitlocker recovery
• Virtual Smartcard support
• Greater Measured Boot and Attestation support
• Key attestation
• Key storage provider
• TPM 1.2 and 2.0 (Rev 0.88+) support

OOBE and roaming

The OOBE and roaming changes are:

• By default language and locale settings will show at start of OOBE. Select language to see rest of locale settings.
• OOBE streamlined and reduced.
• All Windows 8 personalization still support roaming (background, color choice etc.). Start screen changes and customizations will now roam when logged in with a MSFT account.
  Note: Desktop apps do not roam
• Uninstall of a modern app will occur for all systems unless otherwise specified.
• Mobile Broadband access during OOBE.

Windows MDM

The Windows MDM or Mobile Device Management - When a user enrolls their device, they are joining the device to the Windows Intune management service. They get access to the Company Portal which provides a consistent experience for access to their applications, data and to manage their own devices. This allows a deeper management experience with existing tools like Windows Intune. IT administrators now have deeper policy management for Windows RT devices, and can manage Windows 8.1 PCs as mobile devices without having deploy a full management client.

Open MDM is also a new feature on Windows 8.1 in lieu of domain join. With Windows 8.1, you can use an OMA-DM API (open mobile alliance device management) agent to allow management of Windows 8.1 devices with mobile device management products, like Mobile Iron or Air Watch.