Intel Intros Centrino 2

Intel's (News - Alert) latest mobile platform Centrino 2  delivers speedier performance and faster wireless connectivity to laptops. Several refreshes were made previously however this new platform is Intel’s first major upgrade to Centrino. Intel launched Centrino’s predecessor in 2003.

The new platform will deliver better performance on laptops with more power-efficient Core 2 Duo chips operating at clock speeds between 2.26 GHz and 3.06 GHz. The platform supports 802.11n wireless networking and WiMAX wireless broadband. This will enable laptop users to connect wirelessly with very high speed and range

 

Penryn chips manufactured using 45-nanometer process is included in the platform. Three of the new processors run at 25 watts for more efficiency when compared to 35 watts used in older Centrino notebook processors. These laptops with Centrino 2 will be featuring DDR3 memory. This provides faster memory access using less power.

Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64 said, “A big Centrino 2 advantage is improved graphics. The new GM45 integrated graphics card supports DirectX 10 to handle 3D graphics and high-definition content. It also is capable of off-loading the processor by taking on heavier graphics loads.”

Brookwood also pointed out that there will be enough power to watch a Blu-ray movie before the battery dies out. In most cases while watching Blu-ray in notebooks, the battery would drain out before the movie was over.

Advanced Micro Devices’ (News - Alert) integrated graphics technology used in the Puma notebook platform also enabled handling of high-definition content. Intel was not an expert in integrated graphics for notebooks earlier but now it has succeeded in developing the technology to a large extent.

Intel will be launching other new products with smaller sized chips which consume less power. Digital Spyders and Provantage will be offering Centrino 2 chip, the Core 2 Duo T9600 chip running at 2.8 GHz and with a cache memory of 6MB.

“Hurry Up and Get Idle” or HUGI is a new capability in the Centrino 2 laptops to hit markets soon. More processor power will be added to a set of computer tasks besides quickly turning it off.  And to save on power, idle un-used portions of the processor will go to a more energy-efficient state.

Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.