This isn’t solving the uncertainty. I think the problem isn’t whether it’s a new tab or a new window. The problem is not knowing/having hard time figuring out what page is behind it. I don’t think that people usually open new windows — it’s not practical like opening new tabs.

My solution would be to place a small preview window (popup) on the hover over the anchor text and by clicking it, to open a link in a new tab by default. This will help users have a clue what’s behind the link. On the mobile, the preview window would show up by holding the anchor text for like 2 seconds: