Posts Tagged ‘intel’

Intel Takes on ARM with New ‘Oak Trail’ Atom Platform

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Intel’s roll out of its “Oak Trail” Atom platform is the first move in an aggressive strategy to take on ARM-based chips in the highly lucrative smartphone and tablet markets.

After more than a year of saber-rattling, Intel officials have taken a significant step in their push into the mobile device space and in ramping up the competition with ARM Holdings, whose chip designs are found in most smartphones and tablets.

At the Intel Developer Forum in China April 11, Intel officials unveiled its “Oak Trail” Atom platform, including the new Atom Z670. They also gave attendees a peak at the next Atom platform, dubbed “Cedar Trail,” a 32-nanometer platform that will extend Intel’s reach into a market that the giant chip maker has little if any presence.

The officials said the Oak Trail chips will begin appearing in tablets in May, and that in all, more than 35 designs will start appearing from OEMs like Lenovo, Fujitsu, Evolve III, Motion Computing and Razer, running a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Android and MeeGo.

Executives from Intel, the world’s largest chip maker and the long-time dominant vendor in the server and PC markets, hopes that Oak Trail and later Cedar Trail will help the company fulfill the promise of President and CEO Paul Otellini, who said during the IDF in September 2010 that Intel would become a major player in the burgeoning tablet space. (more…)

Intel launches its combo graphics-microprocessor chips

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

Intel is formally introducing one of its most important chips in a long time today. The code-named Sandy Bridge chip combines graphics and a microprocessor on the same silicon chip.

The company is making the announcement in advance of the Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest tech event of the year which starts on Tuesday in Las Vegas. At CES, dozens of computer makers will introduce 500 new computers based on what Intel calls its second-generation Intel Core processor family.

With the Sandy Bridge design, computer makers don’t have to add separate graphics chips from Advanced Micro Devices or Nvidia — at least for laptops that don’t need stellar performance. AMD is also debuting its Fusion combo chip this week, making CES 2011 one of the most competitive computer events in a long time. Altogether, Intel has 29 new Core i3, i5 and i7 processors.

The new graphics-heavy approach for Sandy Bridge is a recognitio of how much users need 3D graphics and fast video performance in this day and age. Intel is calling this emphasis on graphics the User Visual Experience. Sandy Bridge can quickly convert video from one format to another, though not as fast as stand-alone graphics chips can. (more…)