Intel Launches Fresh Mobile Quad-Core Chip

Intel over the weekend introduced a new mobile quad-core chip, which Acer started offering Monday in its latest Aspire laptop for multimedia and gaming enthusiasts.

In addition, online retailers started offering pre-orders of Advanced Micro Devices' Phenom II quad-core chip, which AMD plans to introduce next month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The new product is aimed at high-end desktops.

The Acer Aspire 8930G-7665 laptop is powered by Intel's new Core 2 Quad Q9000. On Sunday, Intel released an updated price list that lists the 2.0-GHz Q9000 for $348 in batches of 1,000. Pricing for Intel's other mobile quad cores start at $851, with the highest-price product, the QX9300, listing for $1,038.

Intel also listed four new dual-core processors for laptops, the 2.93-GHz T9800, $530; the 2.66-GHz P9600, $348; the 2.66-GHz T9550, $316; and the 2.53-GHz P8700, $241.

The latest Acer Aspire sports an 18-inch display and includes 4 GB of memory, an Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics card with 512 MB of video memory, and a 500-GB, 7,200-RPM hard disk drive. The system also includes a Blu-ray disc player, built-in Wi-Fi support, a Webcam, and Windows Vista Premium. The manufacturer suggested retail price is $1,800.

AMD's 3.0-GHz Black Edition Phenom II X4 9400 was available for pre-order on Computers4Sure, owned by Office Depot, and A-Power Computer Online. The chip comes with a three-year warranty.

Intel Puts Mobile Quad-core Chip in Acer Notebook

For those of you who have been waiting for someone to cram a quad-core processor into a notebook, your time has come. Intel announced over the weekend of Dec. 27 the launch of a new mobile quad-core chip, the Q9000, which PC maker Acer is selling in its Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook.

Designed for multimedia and gaming enthusiasts on the go, the chip utilizes four processing cores, 6MB of shared Level 2 cache, a 1066 MHz front side bus and clock speed rates up to 2.0GHz. Along with the quad-core mobile processing power, the notebook brings high-definition functionality. The chip is backed by a three-year warranty and the notebook is backed by a one-year warranty.

The notebook PC features an 18.4-inch HD CineCrystal widescreen 1920 by 1080 pixel display, with an 18-inch widescreen, 16:9 aspect ratio for improved color and visual detail. Acer has also thrown in a Blu-ray Disc player, Dolby audio and an Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics card with 512GB of memory. Acer claims all these features provide a "cinematic" experience filled with rich video and sound.

Other features include built-in Wi-Fi support, a Webcam, a six-in-one media card reader, 4GB of dual-channel memory and Windows Vista Premium. The manufacturer suggested retail price is $1,799.95.

"By incorporating the latest capabilities of Intel's Core 2 Quad mobile processors into the Aspire 8930G-7665, Acer is delivering a perfect combination of mobility, innovation and extreme gaming capabilities," Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer America, said in a statement. "Gamers and enthusiasts who enjoy HD multimedia entertainment will find the performance benefits of quad-core mobile performance in the Aspire 8930G unrivaled [by] other multimedia notebooks on the market."

Intel also announced the launch of four other four dual-core chips, the 2.93-GHz T9800, selling for $530, the 2.66-GHz P9600, selling for $348, the 2.66-GHz T9550, selling for $316, and the 2.53-GHz P8700, selling for $241.

Elina Networks Partners with Intel

Elina Networks, a provider of networking solutions, has partnered with Intel's Business Exchange (BX) Programme for network infrastructure management and other essential IT services. The Intel BX Programme is an online technology marketplace for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs).

The BX Programme facilitates solution providers to bid for customer businesses that focus on SMBs, bringing together offerings with bundled software and hardware, and stand-alone business applications. It enables shoppers to research products and services, request quotes, and connect with solution providers to speed the identification, selection and implementation of technology, the company said.

According to Narendra Bhandari, Director APAC, Software and Services Group, Intel, "The Intel Business Exchange (Intel BX) brings together offerings such as bundled software and hardware, stand-alone business applications and services. The community-enabled website includes resources such as product descriptions, interactive demonstrations, whitepapers, case studies, blog entries and user-submitted product ratings and reviews, in order to help SMB professionals find answers to their toughest business challenges."
Commenting on the partnership with Intel BX, Shekar Nair, CEO, Elina Networks, said, "We are pleased to be the first vendor in the IT and networking category and this gives us a strong advantage in reaching customers. The unified network, security and management functionality provided by our ENPAQ series of unified gateway products dramatically reduces the cost of implementing and maintaining a network for the organization."

MSI Debuts 'Hybrid' Netbook

MSI announced its U115 "hybrid" netbook on Tuesday. What's a hybrid netbook? One with the ability to use both a solid-state disc drive as well as a spinning hard drive, apparently.

MSI didn't release a price or a ship date for the U115 netbook, which includes a 10-inch display and is designed around Intel's 1.6-GHz Z530 Atom processor and its "Menlow" chipset platform. Other specs include the usual 1 Gbyte of RAM, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth EDR, a few USB ports, either a 1.3-Mpixel or 2.0-Mpixel Webcam, and 4-in-1 card reader. MSI didn't draw any overt comparisons to the MSI Wind, the company's more famous netbook offering.

The real innovation, at least according to MSI, is the 8- or optional 16-Gbyte SSD working in conjunction with the 120-Gbyte or optional 160-Gbyte rotating hard drive.

Within the U115, the SSD is used to store system files, while the magnetic hard drive is used to store data. In essence, the hybrid technology is basically an expanded version of the Intel Robson or Microsoft ReadyBoost technology, where the flash drive is used to increase the overall system performance through local caching. MSI powers the system using Windows XP Home, incidentally.

The netbook can also be placed in "ECO on Mode," which provides "super long" battery life -- without saying exactly how long. In this state, only the SSD is used, and the netbook apparently stores data on the SSD as well, later backing it up on the rotating drive. It's not clear whether this backup is done manually, or automatically.

One ergonomic note: MSI said it increased the distance between the keys to 17.5mm, making it a bit more comfortable for fat fingers.

The MSI U115 measures 260 mm x 180 mm x 19-31.5mm, and weighs about a kilogram, MSI said. What's missing, of course, is the price: SSDs usually don't come cheap.

Intel rolls new education PCs at CES

Intel Corp. will make a fresh foray into low-cost PCs at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, launching a tablet-style netbook for students. The company also will show a personal area network technology for linking Wi-Fi devices.

Intel will debut at CES its so-called Learning Series of hardware, software and services for global education markets. The family includes a small notebook with a touch screen that folds into a tablet and is aimed at children.

OEMs from the U.S. will discuss their plans for rolling out systems based on the Intel designs. Intel has been testing its so-called classmate PCs with teachers and students in the U.S., some of whom will be on hand for the launch January 9, according to a media advisory released by Intel.

Later that day at CES, Intel chairman Craig Barrett will deliver a talk on technology and education in developing markets. Whether the company's latest efforts will be more successful that several previous industry approaches remains to be seen.

Intel, Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices and others have developed multiple generations of low-cost systems aimed at education markets, especially in the developing world. Hitting the right costs and features with the right business model has been a challenge for many of the efforts such as One Laptop Per Child which aimed to deliver a $100 system in volume.

Qualcomm is the latest company to jump into the fray with its sub-$400 Kayak system. Microsoft has been retooling a novel pay-as-you-go approach called FlexGo for selling PCs through service providers. AMD sold off in early 2007 the assets of its first attempt to deliver low cost PCs for developing countries.

Separately, Intel said it will debut at CES "a new kind of personal area network that connects laptops to all your Wi-Fi enabled consumer devices like cameras, printers, photo frames and more."

The company would not provide more details. Anything that enhances Wi-Fi is in Intel's best interests, given it is baked into all its notebook chip sets. Others such as startup Ozmo have tried to leverage Wi-Fi for use as a personal area network.

Several Intel executives will speak on panels or other events at CES, promoting the company's products and technology agendas. The list includes the Atom processor for netbooks and other mobile systems and WiMax, Intel's preferred fourth-generation wireless technology which it aims to bake into future notebooks.

The company will also discuss progress getting its Canmore X86 system-on-chip designed into digital TVs. The chip is part of a broad initiative to develop software to bring Internet services to digital TVs in the form of software widgets.

Windows 7 Leaked To The Internet

A trial version of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 7 operating system showed up on the Internet over the weekend, according to numerous blog reports.

The beta version of the OS, reportedly Windows 7, build 7000, can be downloaded from several infamous torrent sites often used to share pirated content.

Microsoft isn't planning to officially release beta copies of Windows 7 until its MSDN developers' conference in January. A final version of the OS isn't expected until late 2009 or early 2010.

Microsoft may not be overly displeased with the leak.

The company is urging partners to begin work on Windows 7 product development as soon as possible to avoid the sort of compatibility problems that plagued the launch of Windows Vista in January 2007.

Earlier this month, Intel released a pre-production version of Windows 7 drivers for graphics chipsets. The WDDM1.1 graphics driver is designed for "enabling the full Windows 7 experience," Intel said, noting that the driver is the result of ongoing collaboration with Microsoft.

Drivers allow hardware components to communicate with a computer operating system.

When Vista launched in January of last year, many hardware makers -- including Intel -- didn't have fully compatible drivers ready. The problems marked the beginning of a slew of bad press for Vista that ultimately led many businesses and consumers to reject the operating system.

To avoid a repeat of those problems, Microsoft earlier this year ordered computer and other hardware makers to begin testing their devices on Windows 7 as soon as the first beta version becomes available.

Microsoft for the first time unveiled Windows 7 features at its Los Angeles Professional Developers Conference in October and appears anxious to release the OS as soon as possible. The company has formally said that Windows 7 won't ship until early 2010, but the January release of a beta disk is the latest sign that Windows 7 could debut in late 2009.

Microsoft is hoping Windows 7, which includes native support for touch screens, will help erase memories of Vista, which has been a disappointment for the company.

HP, Intel in Talks to Ease Atom Restrictions

The Atom is used in most netbooks on the market, however it is only available for use in netbooks with up to 10.2-inch displays. According to Digitimes, HP is said to be in negotiations with Intel reportedly in hopes to use Intel’s Atom in new mini-note PC models with larger panels.

The news comes at the same time as rumors about an Atom competitor from VIA. The VIA C7-M processor is currently used in HP’s 2133 Mini-Note, which was launched before the copious amounts of Atom netbooks hit shelves.

Digitimes cites sources who say that, in light of competition from netbooks by Asus and Acer, HP's '09 roadmap shows the company hopes to add both 11.6-inch model and a 13.3-inch model to its netbook line. The 11.6-inch is expected in the second quarter of 2009 and the 13.3-inch in June 2009.

We’re all in favor of HP basing its next line of mini-notes on the Atom, but is a 13.3-inch really a netbook? We don’t think Intel will go the for it. However, while we think only the 11.6-inch has a shot, Digitimes sources think HP is likely to obtain consent from Intel. Watch this space for more. Intel is expected to make a decision at the end of January.

Yahoo, Intel have high hopes for Internet TV

Yahoo and Intel built their success upon widespread use of personal computers, but the two companies hope products to be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January will mark the beginning of their Internet-fueled expansion to the world of TV as well.

The two companies have attracted several significant manufacturing and content allies in the attempt to bring new smarts and interactivity to a part of the electronics world that has remained a more passive part of people's digital lives.

Intel and Yahoo showed off Net-enabled TV prototypes in August, but the companies' technology will be presented in more finished form at the electronics show within products by Samsung, Toshiba, and a number of new partners that have signed on since the debut.

What exactly are they trying to achieve? For Yahoo, it's establishment of the Widget Channel, a software foundation that can house programs for browsing photos, using the Internet's abundant socially connected services, watching YouTube videos, or digging deeper into TV shows -- and through which Yahoo will be able to show advertisements.

For Intel, it's a foothold in an industry whose microprocessors have typically been cheaper, less powerful, and less power-hungry.

Yahoo is confident the products will catch on, in part because it's set "very low" licensing requirements, said Patrick Barry, vice president of Yahoo's Connected TV initiative.

Ericsson and Intel collaborate to create anti-theft mobile broadband modules in Laptops

Ericsson antoday that it is collaborating with Intel to ensure that Ericsson’s Mobile Bnounced roadband Modules are interoperable with Intel® Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology for notebooks to offer a secure and reliable anti-theft solution for mobile broadband users. The collaboration addresses solutions to minimize the negative consequences when notebooks are lost or stolen, and in conjunction independent encryption software when sensitive data is lost while on-the-go and to prevent unwanted data intrusion.

The need for taking the profit out of stealing laptops and protecting sensitive and important information continues to grow with the increased popularity of mobile broadband notebooks. Theft or loss of notebooks can have enormous financial consequences for both consumers and enterprise users, especially when sensitive data on the notebook is lost or obtained by unauthorized persons.

Through this collaboration between Ericsson and Intel, a theft management service residing in the network can send a message via SMS to the mobile broadband module inside the notebook, which securely transfers the message to Intel’s Anti-Theft function inside the processor platform, which takes appropriate actions, such as completely locking the computer, making it unusable. When the notebook is located and recovered, an unlock message can be sent to the notebook that makes the data accessible again.

The solution builds on Ericsson’s Mobile Broadband Modules, which are tightly integrated in and optimized for notebooks, and Intel’s Anti-Theft PC Protection technology, which can lock a stolen or lost notebook. Intel Anti-Theft Technology provides an intelligent mechanism built into the processor platform that detects potential theft situations and responds according to IT policies. Anti-Theft PC Protection technology can be programmed to respond to repeated login failures and expiration of a timer that requires regularly scheduled connection to a central server.

When a loss or theft is detected, Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection technology can lock the laptop, rendering it useless, by blocking the boot process, and when working in conjunction with third-party encryption hardware or software can protect data by deleting cryptographic keys or similar essential code for decryption.

The theft management service can also take advantage of built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in the Ericsson mobile broadband module, which can send location data to a central server. The location function can be utilized to determine a theft situation when the notebook is moved outside a pre-defined area - a so called geo-fence to locate a lost notebook.

Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules are already optimized with Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology to achieve excellent battery life and will in addition be validated to guarantee the interworking with Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology. The solution will be available in commercial data protection products starting second half of 2009.

Intel’s Atom is a gem

Intel's Atom. The specs of this chip do not fail to impress. Power is low enough for fanless operations. Die size is unbelievably less than 26mm2 - that’s a lot of dies per wafer. And performance is where it needs to be.

Talking about performance, Tech Report ran a comparative review of Intel’s desktop Atom 230 and the VIA Nano L2100. Even though the VIA device pretty much cleaned up in all the tests, when IE7 was used to compare browser performance, neither platform was appreciably slower than the quad-core system that the reviewer used every day.

Out of all the tests that Tech Report carried out, the browser comparison tells us all we need to know. Since most people use their PC for Internet use, a PC based around an Atom or Nano processor would be good enough for most users needs.

But the majority of people who are in the market for a PC don’t want to buy an Internet appliance type device and be restricted because of its lack of flexibility. Since a PC in the home will generally be used by more than one person, flexibility in the platform is a must.

Which brings us back to the Atom. To date Atom based devices have only been available with Intel chipsets. Also, platform choice has been limited. Netbook type devices come with small screens, small keyboards and little flexibility. Atom based systems that come bundled with a full-size screen and keyboard are still limited by their lack of or limited expansion.

All of this seems to indicate that there is an unwritten law that says Intel won’t be happy at all to see full-sized desktops and laptops powered by the the Intel Atom processor. And let’s not forget that Microsoft is trying real hard to put its very popular Windows XP operating system to rest.

I’m sure that there are many who would be interested in buying a full-sized Atom based laptop that is fanless, ships with a solid state drive (SSD), and probably most important of all, especially for business, ships with the venerable and loved Windows XP operating system.

I’m also sure that there are many others who would like a similar hardware and software setup in a traditional desktop PC, where there is room for at least three or four expansion slots.

Restraint of trade
Having recently finished rebuilding an automotive engine, I was doing some research on engine oil that I could use.

As it so happened I came across a bunch of lawsuits involving Dupont, which concerned the use of its Teflon product in oil additive solutions. Dupont had stopped supplying Teflon to these oil additive companies, as the chemical giant believed that its product wasn’t being used as directed.

Of course, the oil additive companies responded and sued Dupont. Dupont lost because it couldn’t legally stop a company from buying its product for something else that the Dupont hadn’t intended - that’s restraint of trade.

So why haven’t we yet seen full-sized Atom based laptop and desktop computers? Has Intel, unofficially, already dictated what Atom platforms are allowed?

A PC Perspective piece from last July said that Atom motherboard vendors had complained about the number of restrictions that Intel had imposed: Apparently, vendors are not allowed to build Atom boards that include PCI Express and digital video outputs. These boards are also restricted to just one memory slot.

All of this is worrying. As a US consumer, why can’t I have the option to buy an Intel Atom based motherboard that has PCI Express, digital video out and two DDR2 memory slots. Why should a monopolist like Intel impose on others that which serves its own interests best?

Because the majority of these Atom based motherboards are designed and manufactured in the Far East, I don’t know if the US restaint of trade laws have any jurisdiction there.

But these products do get imported into the US. So if it can be proved that Intel action caused the US consumer to suffer higher costs because of its foreign anticompetitive behaviour, maybe US law or the FTC can bring Intel to book.