Alaska Airlines makes a major upgrade with in-flight entertainment using Windows 8.1 tablets

Microsoft and the Windows operating system earned a new feather in their caps from Alaska Airlines who deployed 7,000 tablets as part of an enhanced passenger entertainment feature.

The hardware underneath the airline branded case is a Toshiba Encore tablet. The Encore is an 8-inch 1280x800 resolution panel powered by an Intel Atom CPU. A spec-leader it is not, but the form-factor along with the cost, and with the environment the tablet will be used, make it ideal.

According to Alaska Airlines, within weeks of its initial rollout of the new entertainment feature, the company opted to order more so it could make the service more widely available on other routes.

The content partners can deliver all types of entertainment, including movies currently playing in theaters. Gamers can enjoy Xbox gaming as well. Alaska Airlines serves destinations across the United States, parts of Canada, and Mexico, with a concentration of areas served along the western seaboard.

When you fly, do you use these features?