After a delay of more than a month because of problems related to the integration of graphics and wireless licenses, Intel will launch the platform Centrino 2 during a demonstration in San Francisco. A number of PC vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu, are preparing a series of new notebooks to coincide with the release of Centrino 2, formerly code-named Montevina.
While Intel hopes to take its share back-to-school retail with Centrino 2, the new mobile platform is also an important launching the business in IT services are beginning to explore new laptops, so ‘buy and sellers try to distinguish their notebooks of the competition.
At its debut Centrino 2 July 14, only some of the new chip sets and processors will be available at launch, which will delay the lowest range that rely on Intel own integrated graphics card. Laptop computers using discrete graphics from ATI or NVIDIA will be available in due course. A spokesman for Intel said that all products are shipping in volume and all processors and chip sets will be available by early August.
The launch of Centrino 2 is also at a time when consumers and buyers are companies yearning for more mobility when it comes to computers. Intel This is the fifth version of its mobile platform and it comes at a time when notebook shipments and revenues continue to exceed desktops, which makes each new mobile platform more important than the last .
Advanced Micro Devices has also launched a new mobile platform called Puma, which beat Intel in the market thanks to the delay. While Intel and AMD are pursuing consumers, who are currently driving the PC market, Centrino is more oriented buyers of large companies, while Puma is designed for small and medium-sized companies looking for a little Cheaper notebook.
In addition to new processors, graphics and support for both Wi-Fi and WiMax, the new platform is likely to offer new security and management functions through the company vPro technology. (The spokesman for Intel declined to provide details on updates vPro before the official launch.)
It is already well known on 2 and Intel Centrino thus providing the platform to encourage buyers. Firstly, Centrino 2 is the first mobile platform to use the company to 45 nanometers Penryn microprocessors, and reports indicate that chips have clock speeds ranging from 2.4 GHz low-power models at 2.8 GHz or better for the world’s largest processors. The platform will also support DDR3 (double data rate 3) memory.
Deployment Intel dual-core processors first and follow that with quad-core chips later.
The transition from 65 nm to 45 nm-Intel chips can provide a platform should not only increase battery life in notebooks, but also means that this new generation will be more energy efficient and not as hot as the previous generation of laptops. Indeed, a blog Intel has revealed that many new notebook processor will run at 25 watts compared to the old 35-watt models.
The new Centrino platform will also enable OEMs to get more creative with their notebook designs and give them another opportunity to add features and different technologies.
“It is an opportunity for Intel to sell both the enterprise and consumer customers, but the launch of Centrino has a lot of what the business guys want, as vPro,” said John Spooner, an analyst at Technology Business Research. “This launch is a nod to the business side of the house and this is a great opportunity to refresh for OEMs and their business notebook lines. It is also an opportunity to show new innovations. ”
For example, HP announced a number of new laptops in June that are likely to use the Centrino platform 2. Among these models is the EliteBook HP, with a magnesium alloy, 14.1-inch screen and reported 15 hours of battery, which offers robust feature in a book of 4.7 cases much lighter than others injured semirugged blocks Notebook or on the market.
On the networking side of the platform, Intel offers a technology called Eco Peak, which will support technology Wi-Fi, including the most recent 802.11 Draft N standard, as WiMAX. For now, Wi-Fi is more important than WiMax networks are still being developed in the USA, although the technology is beginning to gain presence overseas, notably in Asia.
For Intel, the launch of Centrino 2 is the last major announcement before it unveils its new microarchitecture Nehalem its Developer Forum in San Francisco in August. The Nehalem chip will not appear in the company of mobile platform, code-named Calpella, at least until 2009.
