IDF: Intel and the ultra mobile revolution

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 18 April 2007 10:49

Your IT - Entertainment

One thing that Chandrasekher said is that Paul Otellini promised, when the first generation of UMPCs was released, was that by 2010, Intel would have a processor for UMPC devices that would use 10x less power than their first generation UMPCs.

On stage, Chandrasekher was happy to announce that this target was to be reached by McCaslin’s successor called “Menlow” – and it is due two years early, in 2008. Better still, this target was already previously revised from 2010 to 2008 – but today it was revised further – from late 2008 to the first half of 2008.

To demonstrate this to us, Chandrasekher pulled a demo model made with Compal out of his pocket, with 45nm silicon produced in March. So, the Menlow technology exists TODAY, but naturally still has more refinement to go before being rolled out en masse.
 
According to Intel, Menlow will include a new processor, codenamed “Silverthorne” which is based on a new 45nm Hi-k low power microarchitecture.  It is apparently the 6th processor that Intel has introduced which uses 45nm technology, showing how advanced they are at the 45nm scale, and no doubt rubbing it into AMD who have only just reached the 65nm level.

Intel says that the platform also includes “the next-generation chipset, codenamed “Poulsbo,” providing a single-chip solution. Silverthorne and Poulsbo were both designed from the ground up for MID and UMPC platforms”.

So, while these devices are planned to run Windows Vista, they are also planned to run Linux. Chandrasekher outlined Intel’s intent to pursue Linux as an OS alternative for MIDs and announced the support of Red Flag and Canonical, provider of the popular Ubuntu Linux OS, as the first Linux OS vendors.

To promote the new UMPCs, Intel announced an “Alliance to Drive Mobile Internet Innovation” with what is called the “Mobile Internet Device Innovation Alliance”. The founding members are Asus, BenQ, Compal, Elektrobit, HTC, Inventec, and Quanta. These companies are working together to “solve engineering challenges associated with delivering the full Internet in ever-smaller MID form factors including power management, wireless communications, and software integration”.

Intel says that “Alliance members are expected to launch Menlow-based products in the first half of 2008”.

So… mobile PCs are finally growing up. They promise desktop power, longer battery life and full wireless capabilities (to be enabled on a mass scale by upcoming WiMAX rollouts). Nevertheless, announcements are one thing – real world usage is another.

That’s the real test of a mobile device – whether the quoted specs match real world use, and whether they truly can replace a much larger laptop device. Price will also be a key factor for widespread adoption. I can only assume that Intel’s claims of great increases in performance and more for the McCaslin 2007 generation, and the upcoming Menlow 2008 generation are true.

I’ll try to get my hands on some units here to have a quick play with, but will certainly be scouring the Internet for hands-on reviews and hassling vendors to send review units to do some real testing with. Until then, the next generation has been announced, and it’s coming soon to a store near you, with even better models due next year.

Alex Zaharov-Reutt travelled to the Beijing IDF as a guest of Intel.