Intel to debut low power chip
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‘Silverthorne’ to enable lightweight, ultra-mobile PCs
Chip manufacturer Intel is preparing to unveil an x86 microprocessor with the lowest power footprint the company has ever produced.
The chip, codenamed Silverthorne, provides the same performance as the Pentium M processor that was released in 2003. However, it can run on as little power as 600 milliwatts and can reach speeds of 2GHz while producing just 2W of heat. The Pentium M chip would produce more than ten times that heat at peak performance.
Intel anticipates that the chip will be used to power lightweight PCs, similar to those made by the One Laptop Per Child project and Asus’ EeePC. This class of device sits between a laptop and smart phone, and is predicted by some to become popular among students and at the low-end of the laptop market. Others, however, predict that this form factor will be eclipsed by the increasing sophistication of smart phones.
Further reading
Intel talks power savings as Moore’s Law enters last decade
Power and heat Not enough of one and too much of the other – dominated the discussion at Information Age’s roundtable debate on the challenges of the modern data centre.
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