David Flynn09 July 2008, 10:00 AM
Intel’s fifth-gen Centrino platform is ready to take flight, with a raft of new notebooks lined up on the launchpad.
After last month’s
setback, Centrino 2 is finally ready to make its run. Intel’s fifth-generation notebook tech set will be unleashed in San Francisco late next Monday afternoon (US time), and APCmag.com will be jetting stateside to bring you the word on what’s new for the notebooks of 2008-2009.
The Australian launch kicks off on Wednesday, with Intel’s media invitation including a video in which a Sydney-based ‘Parkour’ team runs, bounces and rebounds through the streets. It’s a quite literal interpretation of Intel’s ‘Leap Ahead’ mantra. “Parkour and Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology both strive to work within their environment to maximise performance and to be more powerful, efficient and mobile” suggests the invite.
As
previously reported we’ll see nine iterations of revved-up 45nm Penryn-class processors, spanning from the new quad-core extreme performance QX series (a 3GHz overclock-friendly beast with 12MB of cache) to a trio of ‘small package’ processors destined for notebooks like the MacBook Air and ThinkPad X300. All told, it’s the biggest single roll out of mobile processors in Intel’s history.
Most leading notebook vendors will have a selection of new Centrino 2 models on display, although you won’t see all the good stuff right away. Vendors won’t be permitted to sell, promote or advertise Centrino 2 notebooks enhanced with Intel’s vPro hardware-based management technology until August 4, some three weeks after the actual Centrino 2 launch.
You might be tempted to write those off as your typically boring built-for-business notebooks. But thanks to the SP, SL and SU series of pint-sized Penryn processors we can expect some stunningly slim designs will be created to steal corporate hearts and open company chequebooks, including Lenovo’s
rumoured extension of ThinkPad X300 ‘Kodachi’ line with new models stretching from 12 inches to 15.4 inches.
(It’s also worth noting that Intel has axed the short-lived Centrino Pro brand which introduced the previously desktop-bound vPro technology to the mobile market, along with the Centrino Duo logo – from next week things are pared back to the simpler brand set of Centrino 2 and Centrino 2 vPro).
Early reports show graphics performance will enjoy the most noticeable boost in Centrino 2, with the GM45 Express chipsets (based on Intel’s X4500 graphics technology) pulling 70% ahead of the X3100-derived series. The rest of the spec also gets a rev-up: front side bus (FSB) speed lifts from 800MHz to 1,066MHz, while standard system memory is upgraded to DDR3-800. We’re also looking forward to hearing more on ‘Robson 2’, which is the second generation of Intel’s flash-buffered Turbo Memory hard drive technology.