Posts tagged atom
Project Denver: Windows 8 on Nvidia CPUs, Intel in the Crosshairs
Jan 5th
In the course of just a few hours, the seeds have been planted for a major upheaval in personal computing. Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s announcement that Windows 8 will support ARM processors, graphics chip maker Nvidia has revealed that it is developing a full lineup of ARM processors. ”Project Denver” will include CPUs for desktops, laptops, servers, and supercomputers and is an all-out assault on Intel’s PC market dominance.
In the past, Nvidia has licensed ARM cores for its Tegra and Tegra 2 smartphone/tablet chipsets (see here for more info), but with this announcement, Nvidia aims to turn itself into a full-fledged System-on-a-Chip (SoC) architecture designer– a major upgrade. The firm will integrate graphics chipsets into its CPUs, as Intel and AMD have done recently. The single most important factor that makes Project Denver significant, however, is Microsoft’s announcement: no longer being limited to just x86 chips (which Nvidia could never get a license from Intel to produce), Windows 8 PCs will be able to run on Nvidia’s processors without issue.
Read on for more about Nvidia’s new CPU project.
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HP Slate detailed: $549, 1.6 GHz Atom, 5 hour battery, dual cameras
Apr 7th
A leaked HP internal slide details the the company’s upcoming Windows 7-powered iPad competitor, dubbed the HP Slate. The base model will cost $549 and sports an 8.9″ 1024×600 capacitive multitouch display with pen support, a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, Intel integrated graphics, a video accelerator for 1080p playback, 32 GB storage, and 1 GB RAM. The Slate includes a five-hour, 2-cell battery, an SDXC slot, front- (1.3 MP) and rear-facing (3 MP) cameras, a USB 2.0 slot, a SIM card slot for 3G wireless, and a dock connector (with HDMI video, audio, and power connections). For $599, HP will offer a 64 GB version of the tablet.
While the Slate’s specs suggest it’ll get half of the iPad’s 10-hour rated battery life, it’s a very different device. The iPad uses a smartphone processor and the simplified iPhone OS, while the Slate runs full-blown Windows 7, with an HP TouchSmart interface on top, on a netbook-style Intel Atom platform.
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McLaren Unveils MP4-12C: 600 HP V8, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, Runs Windows
Mar 19th
Earlier today, McLaren Automotive unveiled its new supercar, the MP4-12C, and as expected, it’s a performance monster, powered by McLaren’s own (not BMW- or Mercedes-designed, as in the company’s earlier cars) 3.8L V8 mid-engine developing 600 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque with an 8,000-rpm redline. Most impressively, at least 369 lb-ft of torque is available at all times between 2,000 and 8,000 rpm. The car is constructed of a center carbon-fiber tub and outer aluminum structures, weighing in at just 1,300 kg (2,870 lb)– not quite as light as the 1,000 kg McLaren F1, but impressive nonetheless considering how much more safety equipment the MP4-12C carries.
So far, so good. The MP4-12C ‘s going to be light, fast, very well-built (build tolerances are less than 0.5 mm), safe (McLaren’s conducting dozens of crash tests to maximize safety), maybe even reliable (with over a million miles of test driving), but comfortable and livable? Not words one might typically use to describe a supercar, but that’s what McLaren’s aiming for.
The MP4-12C features a 7" in-dash touch screen powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU running Microsoft software
Here’s where it gets really interesting. The MP4-12C’s spec sheet looks like someone accidentally mixed it in with something describing a netbook or tablet. Intel Atom 1.6 GHz, 7″ portrait-mode touch screen, Bluetooth, 802.11 Wifi, USB, and Microsoft software. Now that’s something you won’t find in any factory-shipped car in America, let alone a supercar. It’s all part of McLaren’s IRIS infotainment system, which is based on Microsoft software, presumably running on Windows Embedded. McLaren’s choice of Atom is interesting because in-car entertainment systems generally don’t require as much performance as an x86 Atom chip can deliver (Ford’s Microsoft-powered SYNC has a 400 MHz ARM11 processor, for example– see here for info on embedded processors), so IRIS must be something pretty fancy.
Full photo gallery after the break. More >
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Intel, Nokia to reveal “Penwell” Atom-based smartphone platform at MWC?
Feb 11th
Intel’s strategy for many years has been “x86 everywhere,” bringing the processors that power desktop computers down to laptops, netbooks, TVs, DVRs, and more, and now it looks like the company might finally be ready for a push into smartphones, courtesy of a deal with Nokia. Engadget reports that Intel and Nokia will make a joint presentation at Mobile World Congress next week. While the event will probably be related to something simple, like a refreshed Booklet (Nokia’s netbook), we’re told Intel and Nokia might begin to talk about a new wireless platform combining Intel’s CPU bits with a Nokia radio chipset. More information below.
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