On May 9th, Intel introduced its new mobile platform which delivers a host of new technologies. The new platform (originally called “Santa Rosa”) is the latest iteration of the Centrino platform, and consists of updated Intel Core™ 2 Duo processors, Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipsets, IEEE 802.11AGN networking, new Turbo Memory technology, and Intel® 82566MM/C Gigabit Ethernet. It’s an exciting new package and promises to add improved performance, 64-bit support, outstanding video, and faster communications, boot time, and application performance.
Support for the IEEE 802.11n standard is included, even though final ratification of the latest wireless networking standard isn’t expected until late this year. Adding IEEE 802.11n should increase the range by a factor of 2 and improve throughput by 5X (under ideal circumstances), over IEEE 802.11g.
The new chipset supports an 800 MHz front side bus, and will see the use of a new socket format, known as Socket P. (Socket P is not backward compatible with the current socket used in for the Core 2 Duo mobile line.) The new socket was needed to support additional power management features, as well as the 800 MHz FSB. The new chipset will exclusively support DDR2-667 memory.
“Turbo Memory” is another feature of the new platform. Turbo Memory is a new flash memory caching technology, available in 512 MB and 1 GB implementations. The flash modules connect via PCI Express, and are expected to result in more efficient power utilization, faster booting, and faster performance of frequently used applications.
The new Intel Centrino platform is an exciting new technology which is sure to attract a lot of attention. To read more about the Santa Rosa platform, read the Intel press release.