It’s probably not an overstatement to say that the original launch of Intel’s Centrino platform kicked the world of mobile computing up to the next level. True, previous notebooks have featured powerful processors and built-in wireless networking. But it was Intel’s decision to bundle the two together with a chipset and add special power management software that allowed users to hit the road knowing they had computing power when they wanted it, but with a battery runtime longer than half an hour when they were willing to opt for a more balanced power management scheme.
Now Intel has released the Centrino 2 platform, which is actually the fifth revision of the Centrino platform. And, at a quick glance, much of the new Centrino 2 platform appears to be speed increases for the components. So why is this one worthy of the full version upgrade number?
Well, it wouldn’t be a proper launch for a tech product if there wasn’t some element of faster-and-better, and of course the Centrino 2 delivers.
First off, the new Core 2 Duo processors that are included in the Centrino 2 bundle are faster than before, with speeds of up to 3.06 GHz, up from 2.4 GHz for the highest consumer model, and up from 2.6 GHz for the highest enterprise-level configuration.
These new processors also use a 45 nanometer manufacturing process. That means all of the components inside the processor are even smaller than before, allowing more efficient operation and even lower heat generation. For those keeping track of power usage, these new processors run at only 25 watts, which should help extend battery life over the previous generation of Centrino chipsets.
Teamed up with the new processors is a faster front side bus speed of 1066 MHz — the bus speed on the previous generation topped out at 800 MHz, but many members of the earlier Centrino family were 533 or 667 MHz. For those unfamiliar with what this means, the bus is the pipeline between the processor, chipset and RAM, and a faster bus means that information can move between these components more quickly, resulting in improved performance.
The new Centrino 2 configurations also make use of the newer DDR3 memory, which not only runs faster than most DDR2 configurations, but also uses a lower voltage. Again, this helps to increase power efficiency for the platform as a whole.
In addition to the processor and the chipset, the other main component that makes up the Centrino 2 bundle is the wireless networking component, and it was given a speed boost, too. At launch, Intel has opted for the 802.11n draft specification. That’s not a huge surprise, since 802.11n is where the industry is headed, despite the wireless standard not quite being ratified yet.
While there’s always the possibility that there will be major differences in the final version of the 802.11n wireless standard — which is not expected to be officially ratified until sometime in 2009 — most experts are betting that the current draft standard will only require minor tweaks to be fully compatible with the eventual standard. At the launch event an Intel spokesman confirmed that, should this be the case, upgrading to the final standard should be as easy as downloading a firmware upgrade.
Next: But why the 2?But why the 2?
More interesting is the announcement that Centrino 2 will support WiMAX later this year. This new long-range wireless technology is starting to be rolled out through many metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, and Intel’s combo WiFi / WiMAX chip will allow mobile users to connect to either type of wireless network.
While all of the updates listed above seem reasonably minor in the grand scheme of things — since previous updates to the Centrino line have increased the speeds and feeds too, after all — some of the additional updates to the chipset have earned this version of the product the “2” at the end of its name.
One of these new features is aimed squarely at the consumer: integrated hardware decoding of Blu-ray movies. What does that mean? Well, to play back a DVD of any kind, a computer has to convert the digital information found on the disk into a picture, and, up until now, the new high-definition formats have typically been decoded by the processor, which slows down the rest of the system considerably.
By offloading that into a dedicated component designed specifically to convert AVC, VC1 and MPEG2 data into a video stream, it not only frees up the CPU to do more important things, it saves on the battery too. (To that end, Intel believes they’ve met their goal: the ability to play an entire feature-length Blu-ray movie on a single battery charge.)
One new feature aimed at power users is the inclusion of switchable graphics capability in selected configurations. Each Centrino 2 configuration will come with standard integrated graphics as a part of the GM45 Express chipset. Typically though, mobile configurations aimed at power users or gamers tend to add a discrete 3D graphics component that’s more powerful than the very basic integrated component. The downside though, is that more powerful graphics components often eat up a bunch of power, even when the computer isn’t doing anything particularly demanding.
Enter switchable graphics: on a computer that supports this new feature, a power user can actually specify which graphics component to use. That means that when you’re done playing a game, you can manually switch your graphics from the high-powered ATI (or potentially nVidia) graphics chip over to the integrated Intel graphics, which will save you precious battery life. Then, when you’re ready to start gaming again, you simply switch it back. It takes a few seconds for the switchover, but those few seconds of waiting are well worth the minutes you’ll save on your runtime.
At the July launch event for Centrino 2, there were already over 240 design wins announced, and almost certainly those will add up by the week. By the time you’re reading this, models should be starting to hit retail, from manufacturers like HP, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Fujitsu, ASUS and more.Models that include the new Centrino 2 technology will all naturally sport the new Centrino 2 logo.
Now Intel has released the Centrino 2 platform, which is actually the fifth revision of the Centrino platform. And, at a quick glance, much of the new Centrino 2 platform appears to be speed increases for the components. So why is this one worthy of the full version upgrade number?
Well, it wouldn’t be a proper launch for a tech product if there wasn’t some element of faster-and-better, and of course the Centrino 2 delivers.
First off, the new Core 2 Duo processors that are included in the Centrino 2 bundle are faster than before, with speeds of up to 3.06 GHz, up from 2.4 GHz for the highest consumer model, and up from 2.6 GHz for the highest enterprise-level configuration.
These new processors also use a 45 nanometer manufacturing process. That means all of the components inside the processor are even smaller than before, allowing more efficient operation and even lower heat generation. For those keeping track of power usage, these new processors run at only 25 watts, which should help extend battery life over the previous generation of Centrino chipsets.
Teamed up with the new processors is a faster front side bus speed of 1066 MHz — the bus speed on the previous generation topped out at 800 MHz, but many members of the earlier Centrino family were 533 or 667 MHz. For those unfamiliar with what this means, the bus is the pipeline between the processor, chipset and RAM, and a faster bus means that information can move between these components more quickly, resulting in improved performance.
The new Centrino 2 configurations also make use of the newer DDR3 memory, which not only runs faster than most DDR2 configurations, but also uses a lower voltage. Again, this helps to increase power efficiency for the platform as a whole.
In addition to the processor and the chipset, the other main component that makes up the Centrino 2 bundle is the wireless networking component, and it was given a speed boost, too. At launch, Intel has opted for the 802.11n draft specification. That’s not a huge surprise, since 802.11n is where the industry is headed, despite the wireless standard not quite being ratified yet.
While there’s always the possibility that there will be major differences in the final version of the 802.11n wireless standard — which is not expected to be officially ratified until sometime in 2009 — most experts are betting that the current draft standard will only require minor tweaks to be fully compatible with the eventual standard. At the launch event an Intel spokesman confirmed that, should this be the case, upgrading to the final standard should be as easy as downloading a firmware upgrade.
Next: But why the 2?But why the 2?
More interesting is the announcement that Centrino 2 will support WiMAX later this year. This new long-range wireless technology is starting to be rolled out through many metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, and Intel’s combo WiFi / WiMAX chip will allow mobile users to connect to either type of wireless network.
While all of the updates listed above seem reasonably minor in the grand scheme of things — since previous updates to the Centrino line have increased the speeds and feeds too, after all — some of the additional updates to the chipset have earned this version of the product the “2” at the end of its name.
One of these new features is aimed squarely at the consumer: integrated hardware decoding of Blu-ray movies. What does that mean? Well, to play back a DVD of any kind, a computer has to convert the digital information found on the disk into a picture, and, up until now, the new high-definition formats have typically been decoded by the processor, which slows down the rest of the system considerably.
By offloading that into a dedicated component designed specifically to convert AVC, VC1 and MPEG2 data into a video stream, it not only frees up the CPU to do more important things, it saves on the battery too. (To that end, Intel believes they’ve met their goal: the ability to play an entire feature-length Blu-ray movie on a single battery charge.)
One new feature aimed at power users is the inclusion of switchable graphics capability in selected configurations. Each Centrino 2 configuration will come with standard integrated graphics as a part of the GM45 Express chipset. Typically though, mobile configurations aimed at power users or gamers tend to add a discrete 3D graphics component that’s more powerful than the very basic integrated component. The downside though, is that more powerful graphics components often eat up a bunch of power, even when the computer isn’t doing anything particularly demanding.
Enter switchable graphics: on a computer that supports this new feature, a power user can actually specify which graphics component to use. That means that when you’re done playing a game, you can manually switch your graphics from the high-powered ATI (or potentially nVidia) graphics chip over to the integrated Intel graphics, which will save you precious battery life. Then, when you’re ready to start gaming again, you simply switch it back. It takes a few seconds for the switchover, but those few seconds of waiting are well worth the minutes you’ll save on your runtime.
At the July launch event for Centrino 2, there were already over 240 design wins announced, and almost certainly those will add up by the week. By the time you’re reading this, models should be starting to hit retail, from manufacturers like HP, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Fujitsu, ASUS and more.Models that include the new Centrino 2 technology will all naturally sport the new Centrino 2 logo.
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