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Intel updates Centrino line
By Suzanne Deffree, News Editor and Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 5/9/2007
Intel Corp. today launched the fourth-generation of its Centrino mobile processor platform, codenamed "Santa Rosa," with features aimed at improving notebooks' capabilities for both business and leisure.
The platform boasts a new and improved version of its Core 2 Duo processor, which is set to appear in over 230 new notebook models from a bevy of OEMs including Acer, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung by year end—with more than 100 of these new models set to hit the market within the next two weeks.
The next-gen processor still carries the Core 2 Duo name, but purportedly boasts processing capabilities that Mooly Eden, Intel's mobile products group VP and general manager, said during an unveiling event in San Francisco this morning, were like Intel's previous "Napa" generation platform's processors "on steroids."The processor comes in two versions: Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro. Duo targets consumer use, and will work with the likes of Intel Viiv processor technology and Intel Media Share Software. Pro targets business users, and will adopt Intel vPro processor technology, which allows IT departments to manage both desktops and notebooks wirelessly, and Intel Active Management Technology, which provides business-class notebooks with wireless PC management, protection and remote repair work.
The latest versions of Intel's dual-core processors are still based on the 65-nm manufacturing process, but are now optimized to take advantage of Santa Rosa's new chipset, the mobile 965 Express (PM965). PM965 contains an 800MHz front side bus, up from the previous generation's 667MHz, and also contains a low frequency mode (LFM) and a deeper sleep mode aimed at reducing power consumption when not in use. The PM965 is similar to Intel's Broadwater 965 Express chipset for desktops, which was launched in June 2006.
Also as part of today's Santa Rosa platform launch, Intel for the first time unveiled a wireless card that can be used with the upcoming 802.11n standard, the Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N adapter. The new adapter also supports the earlier-generation 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards.
The new platform also offers an optional flash memory feature, Intel Turbo Memory, which can be incorporated into the motherboard. The addition of Intel Turbo Memory can purportedly double the speed of access for frequently used software applications and reduce the amount of time it takes to turn on a laptop by as much as 20 percent.
The Centrino updates are past their originally scheduled launch, as Intel Executive VP Sean Maloney tipped the Santa Rosa technology at the Intel Developer Forum in March 2006, projecting a Q1 2007 release.
The Centrino line was introduced four years ago with much fanfare in New York. At that time, the WLAN-focused line included support fro 802.11a and b.
