First Centrino 2 Systems on Monday

July 14 will see the first general release of Intel’s new Centrino 2 platform, previously known as Montevina. The launch was delayed for several weeks due to a problem with Intel’s own integrated graphics for the platform…which has yet to be solved. Centrino 2 notebooks running just Intel integrated graphics without a dedicated GPU will not be released until August. Therefore, only Centrino 2 systems running with GPUs from nVidia or ATI will be available on Monday.

The Centrino 2 platform is primarily aimed at enterprise users, but like the previous (and enormously successful) Centrino line, will be used in many consumer devices as well. Centrino 2 will be the first mobile platform to take advantage of Intel’s new 45nm Penryn CPUs and will run from 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz. The first releases will be dual core chips but quad core will be just around the corner.

Among the other features in Centrino 2 are:

• Native support for DDR3 RAM
• Native support for 802.11n
• Native support for WiMAX
• Increased battery life and lower heat.
• Lower power usage (25w as opposed to 35w for Centrino chips)

From the look of things, the Integrated Graphics snafu aside, this will be another triumph for Intel and the Centrino 2 chips will rapidly replace the original Centrinos as the CPU of choice for most users. Between Centrino 2 and Atom, it seems that the Intel throttlehold on the processor market will continue into the foreseeable future.

Intel Streams the Pwnage, 111!!!

Intel has been demoing a system where a graphically challenging or bandwidth sucking application such as Crysis or Second Life can be run on a central desktop PC and then streamed to other lesser computers or devices, regardless of their graphics card, processing power or operating system.

At least one demo of this concept utilized software from StreamMyGame, which can be seen in the somewhat fanboyish video below allowing Crysis to be played on a Eee 701. I also read recently of a Demo in which Second Life was run on a central PC, but viewed and controlled from several Intel MIDs. Pretty impressive stuff, as is the idea that now you can host ultimate LAN parties or work sessions where everyone can join in regardless of their system.

However, isn’t this entire idea just a rebottling of the mid 90s “Thin Client” strategy, in which many people who were supposed to know what they were talking about were absolutely sure that by the year 2000 offices would be filled with weak, hamstrung PCs which would run applications on and access files from a central server only, depending on the “big brother” server for processing power. This was supposed to be the next sure thing, but it joined other “waves of the future” such as the “paperless office” and “Internet enabled kitchen appliances” in a storage room somewhere, next to the betamax and a pile of Atari ET cartridges.

For now, this looks like a cool Proof of Concept and a way to really make your kid’s 14th birthday party rock…but I have yet to see a compelling, “killer” use for what seems like a very complex, difficult to configure technology.

We shall see.

First Intel MID pre-order/pricing: M528

Chippy from UMPCPortal has found that the first Intel MID can be preordered already at Tegatech, Australia.

Interested in mobile Internet devices? You know, the ones aimed at the consumer with consumer features and consumer pricing? Then read on… Tegatech, a well-respected UMPC retailer in Australia has recently signed a deal with Gigabyte for the distribution of it’s UMPCs and MIDs in Australia and New Zealand and has sent out an email to it’s media contacts announcing that my favorite MID, the M528 is on their books. A quick look at their website reveals that, yes, the M528 is listed, still looking very desirable, with a nice 8GB flash drive, the 3MP auto-focus cam, an 800×480 touch screen, 11Wh battery, built-in GPS, 3G radio and an 800Mhz Intel Atom processor. With a pocketable size, a pocketable weight and that slide out keyboard it’s a dream device for many.

But here is the interesting thing, the price for this device is around 1280 dollars! Was not the Intel’s MID concept talking about very cheap devices which only main task was Internet Connectivity? For that money you can buy a decent UMPC! A powerful laptop! 3 iPhones! And the other thing is that this price fiasco for some reason reminds me the 500 dollars price tag for UMPCs in the initial Microsoft/Intel marketing campaign. And I said Microsoft/Intel because during that marketing campaign Intel was part of it and a very active part of it and I wonder if the 500 dollars price tag really came from Intel and not from Microsoft.

Intel is loosing the battle against VIA in the UMPC field

Well, at least that’s my opinion after analyzing two years of fiascos coming from Intel. Last year was completely lost because the best that Intel could release was the A110 and A100, two processors that did not give a extra battery life worth to mention because we have plenty of examples of other UMPC using even Core Solo with about the same battery life. The A110 and A100 performance was about the same than what we see in the second generation of VIA processors. Now Intel just released the Atom. And what we have there, lets check this chart posted at JKonTheRun.

 

Once again the new processor from Intel specially designed for UMPC and MID performs worse than the old Celeron M at 900 MHz. There are even few reports about A110 processors out performing this Atom score. So for two years on the road Intel has not been able to release a better processor from the point of view of performance and there are some reports that the Atom even does not support Aero in Vista. If you compare this to what is going on with VIA processors you will see a different picture there. VIA has upgraded its processors for UMPC two times in the same period and in both cases we have seen a gain in performance and battery life. So, who is winning this battle? Evidently VIA. VIA processor still do not out perform in some cases the A110 and Atom processors in performance but if they continue doing what they have been doing I wont be surprised to see a faster VIA processor before this year ends.

Dual-Core Celeron Processors

 

Not to be outdone, Intel has rolled out its first dual-core Celeron processors.  In addition to driving down the cost on all other dual-core processors, while improving the overall quality, this will also quite possibly push the quad-core out in front once and for all.

As noted by the great staff over at Engadget:

 

The first of those processors to hit the market is the 1.6GHz E1200 model, which relies on the slightly less-desirable 65-nanometer manufacturing process and boasts 512K bytes of cache and an 800MHz front-side bus. Not exactly the most impressive of processors, but nothing to sneeze at either, especially considering its $53 price tag — in quantities of 1,000 units, that is. No word on any other dual-core additions to the line, but given Intel’s track record of processor offerings, we’d expect this to be only a taste of things to come.

Little Devices Make Big Hit at CES 2008

From Channelintel:

New mobile Internet Devices are hitting the market and at CES 2008 they stirred a big buzz. The full Internet experience in a nifty little device. See for yourself

Source: Channelintel

MIDs and UMPCs

For highly mobile people who want engaging, rich Internet experiences while on the go, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) offer the freedom and flexibility to communicate with others, enjoy digital media, and access information anytime, anywhere - all using a small, ultra-mobile device.

Everything you need, all in one place. Connect with family and friends across town, or around the world. You expect convenient technology to enable your life on the go. Wireless connectivity. Internet. Communication. Information access. Digital entertainment. Intel provides all this by delivering low power technologies that enable a range of small, thin, and light devices based on its new Intel Ultra Mobile Platform 2007.

MIDs and UMPCs make great PC companions:

• Access information, content and services when and where you want
• Communicate via email, IM, chat, or blogging
• Be entertained with videos, games, music, pictures or TV on the go
• Be productive by monitoring office apps and tools
• Bright LCD touch-screens - targeted 5″ (MID), 7″ (UMPC)

For more information:

• Products in action
• Watch the video of possible usages
• Watch the video of industry usage
• UMPC in education

Source: Intel

Intel preparing “Montevina SFF”

According to this news published Today at X-Bit Labs:

In an attempt to boost sales of microprocessors for thin-and-light notebooks as well as ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPC), Intel Corp. plans to reduce the packaging sizes of its chips for next-generation Montevina small form-factor (Montevina SFF) platform due out in 2008.

I hope that Intel shows us something a little better than current McCaslin processors which bring more battery life cutting off performance.