Computer processor manufacturer Intel, in fact, is so bullish on the matter that it recently moved up a deadline for notebook makers by two years. It’s now asking them to produce by 2008 thin and light notebooks that can run for eight hours without the use of additional external batteries, said Mooly Eden, vice president of the Intel’s mobility group.

If everthing goes well, within three to four years, portable PCs will be expected to see battery life double from today’s four-hour stretch.
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Intel Targets 9-5 Notebook By 2008

As the follow up of the article “Apple Switches To Intel Chips“, on Monday, June 6, 2005, Apple confirmed to use Intel chips beginning in mid 2006.

Quoted:
“Our goal is to provide our customers with the best personal computers in the world, and looking ahead Intel has the strongest processor roadmap by far,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been ten years since our transition to the PowerPC, and we think Intel’s technology will help us create the best personal computers for the next ten years.”

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Apple To Use Intel Chips Confirmed

At Intel’s Wireless and Mobility Press Day on Thursday, June 2, 2005, Mooly Eden – vice president and general manager of the company’s mobile platforms group – described the company’s next generation notebook technology, code-named Napa. Basically, Napa’s centerpiece: Intel’s coming Yonah mobile processor- the company’s first dual-core CPU for notebooks.
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No 64-bit Intel Mobile Chip Yet

Intel unveiled a concept PC that closely look alike with Apple Computer’s Mac Mini on Tuesday, 31 May, 2005.

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The AOpen prototype is one of several designs on display at Computex this week, said Intel spokeswoman Barbara Grimes. Intel is working with multiple computer and device manufacturers on similar designs and expects the products to come to market later this year, she said.

The squarish metallic box, originally code-named Pandora, will be released under AOpen’s XC Cube product line and is similar to one revealed by the chipmaking giant at its Intel Developers Forum in March.

As we can see, the new design lets Intel take another move to entertainment PC. Moreover, Don MacDonald, a vice president with Intel’s home product group, has said that future living room units will be smaller, more stylish and likely less costly. Analysts believe Intel will need to keep production and software bundle costs down if it is to compete with Apple’s $499 Mac Mini.

According to Silent PC Review, AOpen’s Pandora device has a slot load CD drive and power button in the front, along with three USB ports, a keyboard hookup and a serial port in the back for hooking into displays. The computer also has internal wireless networking connectors and uses a single blower fan to keep it cool.

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Both AMD Dual Core Athlon X2 and Intel Dual Core Pentium EE 840 are already hit the market in previous weeks. PC World has just tested both AMD and Intel Dual Core chips and concluded the winner is clearly AMD’s new Athlon 64 X2, which handily outdistanced a dual-core Intel system they tested last month.

Don’t mix up AMD Dual Core Opteron with Athlon X2, same goes to Intel Dual Core Pentium EE 840 with Pentium D. In PC World’s recent tests, they were testing AMD Athlon X2 and Intel Pentium EE 840, the result from the tests is an obvious one. The performance chart clearly shows that PC equipped with AMD’s Dual-Core chip beats Intel’s Dual-Core system.

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The AMD machine was the second-fastest we’ve ever tested, with a 116 mark on WorldBench 5, easily surpassing the 95 posted by the 3.2-GHz dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition 840 reference system that we looked at earlier. The unit showed its prowess on the multitasking portion of WorldBench 5. Its time of 6 minutes, 44 seconds was an impressive 3 minutes, 42 seconds faster than the average of two Athlon 64 FX-55 systems, and about 3 minutes faster than the dual-core Pentium EE 840 reference PC’s time.

PC World also highlighted another advantage of upgrading to Athlon 64 which you need only a BIOS upgrade, whereas to convert an Intel unit to dual-core you’ll need to purchase a new motherboard.

As the conclusion, PC World sums up that if you want powerful performance from Athlon X2, you’ll have to pay dearly for it as AMD’s 4800+ chips alone are priced at USD$1001, while Intel’s 3.2-GHz Pentium EE 840 chips currently sell for USD$995. :)

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Intel on Thursday, 26 May. 2005, formally introduced two new chipsets designed for home and office PCs:-

1. Intel’s Professional Business Platform, or the 945G Express Chipset, bundles networking and advanced management technology.
2. The 945P Chipset includes consumer-oriented features such as advanced audio and video capabilities.

Intel has now turned their focus to the combination of chipsets and processors, instead of processor speed as a marketing tool.

Quoted:
With processor speed becoming less of a marketing tool, Intel has turned its focus toward selling “platforms” that combine a processor, chipset and peripherals such as networking or audio capabilities.

The Professional Business Platform (945G) is aimed at IT administrators and introduces Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) that aids in monitoring, installation of security patches and remotely diagnosing hardware problems. The 945G chipset also enhances power management, reduces noise and packs in new networking features.

Whereas for the consumer platform, the 945P boasts 7.1-channel surround sound and multiple output jacks for sending audio to numerous devices around the home simultaneously.

Anyway, both 945 chipsets will feature Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950, which doubles 3-D performance and supports the latest high-definition displays. Intel says the technology was developed with Longhorn, the next release of Windows, in mind.

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