Today at the Intel Developer Forum in Tokyo, microprocessor giant Intel released four new mobile processors designed for ultramobile devices such as subnotebook computers and Tablet PCs. Intel says that the new chips enhance performance and extend battery life. Three of the processors are Low Voltage or Ultra Low Voltage products that provide speed bumps, and the fourth chip is a low-end processor that offers a budget alternative. The chips are available starting today, and Tablet PC maker Motion Computing is already selling a new system based on one of the designs.
The new chips include the 1.3GHz Low Voltage Pentium M processor ($284 in 1000-unit quantities), the 1.1GHz Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M processor ($262), the 1.4GHz Celeron M processor ($134), and the 900MHz Ultra Low Voltage Celeron M processor ($161). The Low Voltage Pentium M products consume less than 12 watts of power. The Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M processors expend a miserly 7 watts of power, making them ideal for devices, such as lightweight computers that don't have fans, in which heat is a major concern. (In comparison, the Celeron M processor consumes 24.5 watts of power.) Traditionally, such chips have performed poorly, but today's new products should assuage performance concerns.
The Celeron M chips are designed for low-end systems and cost less than their Pentium M equivalents, although they're built on the same processor base. Celeron M chips feature 512KB of L2 cache, half as much as Pentium M chips, Intel says.
In a related development today, Motion Computing unveiled its M1400 Tablet PC, a design that includes the 1.1GHz Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M processor. The M1400 features a slate-like Tablet PC design with a 12" display that's less than an inch thick; the computer weighs less than 3 pounds. The M1400 retails for $1999 to $2350.