Intel this month unveiled its latest brand name, Centrino, which will cover a family of technologies including a forthcoming laptop processor and associated motherboard chipsets and wireless networking capabilities. However, the Centrino component, which is expected to arrive during the first half of this year, could end up being a solution in search of a problem if the current trend towards desktop-replacement notebooks continues.
The Centrino brand includes the processor formerly known as Banias - a chip designed from scratch for the laptop market. This processor, which will be known as the Pentium-M, has been designed to keep power consumption down, so many of the parts of the processor, including the Level 2 cache, are expected to be power-aware so they can be partly or wholly powered down when not in use.
The Pentium-M element of Centrino was created partly to counter the perceived threat posed by Transmeta, with its rival low-power Crusoe processors that can run Intel-based software. But Transmeta has so far failed to make much of an impact in the European or US markets. In fact, recent market research indicates that buyers are more interested in desktop-replacement notebooks rather than lightweight systems that can be used on the move.
Desktop replacement laptops are designed to offer all the capabilities of a standard desktop PC, but in a format that can be closed up and carried home or to customer locations by staff. These high-end portables have built-in networking capabilities, high-resolution screens, large hard-disk capacities and DVD-ROM drives, and many can be fitted with as much memory as a typical desktop system.
A recent phenomenon is the popularity of laptops featuring the full-blown desktop version of the Pentium 4 processor, instead of Intel's mobile version of the component, with many customers citing the availability of more processing power as the reason for preferring such models.
This trend could affect Intel's plans for Centrino. Intel's Centrino Pentium-M is expected to be introduced somewhere around the 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz mark, but current Mobile Pentium 4 chips are available above 2GHz, and the desktop Pentium 4 is now shipping at 3.06GHz.
Though Intel has hinted that Centrino will outperform current Mobile Pentium 4 chips, the danger is that it could be perceived as a technology aimed purely at ultraportables, where size and battery life are more important than performance.
However, a key feature of Centrino-based laptops will be a tighter integration with wireless LAN (WLAN) technology, which is likely to attract interest from corporates. "Our aim is to bring WLAN capability to the vast majority of laptops," said Intel UK spokesman Mathias Raeck.
Given Intel's history of supplying optimised drivers and management tools for wired LANs, it also seems likely that the firm will offer some software to simplify client connection to WLANs and to help IT managers with administrative procedures. Raeck indicated that some tools like this would be available, but declined to give any specific details.
WLAN capability will be provided through a separate 802.11b chip on the motherboard in the first Centrino laptops, but the ultimate aim is to have WLAN integrated into the processor, Intel said.
Centrino technology will include such techniques as intelligent power distribution that focuses system power where the processor needs it most, according to Intel. Other techniques for power conservation are expected to include power-optimised logic, which the chipmaker said would reduce the average power consumed by the processor while still maintaining a reasonable level of performance.
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