News Bits: Intel '06 Roadmap and Processor Pricing, New Orleans Wi-Fi, AMD Expands in Germany

Intel 2006 Mobile CPU Roadmap

Intel recently announced its plans for the mobile arena. More details emerged about the Merom, or Core 2 Duo processor; it will come in two waves, or refreshes. The first is expected in August, and will be integrated into the existing Napa Centrino platform. The second wave is for Q2 2007, the launch of the Santa Rosa Centrino platform; Santa Rosa is the successor of the Napa platform.

The first wave of Merom processors will use a 65nm process and a 667FSB -- the same as the existing Core Duos. The second wave will use a new socket, Socket P, and have an 800MHz FSB. The real change with the second wave is the Crestline core logics. It is essentially the same as the 965 series chipset, but modified for notebooks and low power apps. It will have a "GM" and "PM" component as past Intel chipsets have. GM designates integrated graphics and PM designates an external graphics solution.

In addition to a new chipset logic, the second wave will also receive a new wireless chip, codenamed "Kedron." It will use the existing 802.11a/g technologies as well as 802.11n.

There has been no set date for launch, but pricing is known.

Processor	Clock	FSB	Cache	Price
C2D T7600	2.33GHz	667MHz	4MB	$637
C2D T7400	2.16GHz	667MHz	4MB	$423
C2D T7200	2.00GHz	667MHz	4MB	$294
C2D 5600	1.83GHz	667MHz	2MB	$240
C2D 5500	1.66GHz	667MHz	2MB	$209

Intel partners have confirmed that a BIOS upgrade will be required to upgrade from a Yonah (Core Duo) to a Merom, and Intel will also launch a 2.33GHz Duo on June 25<SUP>th</SUP>. Core Duo processors will still be in notebooks after the Core 2 Duo's introduction.

Intel predicts that the Merom will account for 35% of all shipped mobile CPUs by December 2006, and 90% of all notebook processors will be dual-core.

Intel's roadmap:

(view large image)

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New Orleans residents to get free WiFi

Earthlink has won approval to build a wireless network for New Orleans. They will offer a low-speed free service alongside a high-speed paid network. 15 square miles are slated to be covered.

Free service will burst up to 300kb/s with no ads, and for a fee, a 1Mb/s+, up and down service will be offered.

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Intel to ship Conroe on July 23

Intel's next-gen Conroe, now the Core 2 Duo, will bow on the 23<SUP>rd</SUP> of July (E6000 series) according to slides obtained by an enthusiast website, HKEPC Hardware. Earlier estimates placed the intro date in September.

There appear to be no changes to the lineup, but for the first time we see a sequence number added to the Core 2 Duo Extreme lineup. It will bear the name "X6800," with a hefty but not unexpected price tag of $999. Specs for the chip are a 2.93GHz clockspeed and a 1066MHz FSB - this is lower than expected (3.33GHz with a 1333MHz FSB). Intel's performance advantage over AMD may not be as high as generally expected.

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AMD to invest $2.5 billion in German factories

AMD announced on Monday that it will spend $2.5 billion to upgrade and expand its two factories in Germany. AMD wants to make supply problems a thing of the past. This announcement fuels expectations of Dell offering more machines with AMD chips in the future.

AMD's Chief Executive Hector Ruiz stated:

"As global demand continues to rise for AMD products, we are scaling our manufacturing capacity intelligently to meet our customers' growing needs."

The money will be spent over three years. Fab 30, AMD's first chip factory located in Dresden, will be refitted with equipment to handle larger silicon wafers to yield over twice as many processors as the existing machinery can handle. Following the refit, the factory will be renamed Fab 38.

AMD's expansion will create up to 420 new jobs, and let the Dresden facilities churn out a combined 45,000 300mm wafers per month by the end of 2008.

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Dell formally opens new factory in Xiamen

May 30<SUP>th</SUP> - Dell formally opened their new manufacturing operation in Xiamen, China. Dell is the third-largest and fastest-growing computer system company in China, and the opening of the new factory marks another milestone in their rapid growth and success there.

The factory encompasses 594,000 sq. ft. of space and is Dell's second facility in Xiamen. It more than doubles their production capacity.

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Shipment Volume of Greater Chinese Notebook PC industry accounted for more than 80% of global market in 2005

In recent years, the global notebook PC market has had an annual growth of over 20%. In 2005, the global market scale reached 59.4 million units, a 28.8% annual growth. Factors contributing to the growth include increased adoption of wireless functionality, the closing gap between notebook and desktop PCs in terms of performance, and value-line strategies by major vendors. The Greater Chinese Notebook PC industry has greatly benefited from major brand's orders, accounting for more than 80% of the global market in 2005.

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Interesting Links

Matrox ships TripleHead2Go

Dell launches XPS 700 gaming rid in UK

 

It looks like some of us hoping for a possible upgrade from Yonah to Merom in the future maybe in luck

 

Was there no mention of Robson? Or that won't make it into the mobile market?

That was IMO what was going to set the Santa Rosa apart from anything before.



I would really like to see the WiFi internet up and running in NO. It seems here in Philly the plans have stumbled into some serious performance issues, due to signal strength, and I believe we are already overdue our original ETA

Edit: Wow how sweet, Intel are releasing the 2.33GHz for my birthday

 

Indeed, the T7200 looks like the sweet spot for a future upgrade.

 

A Bios upgrade? Doubt it...

 

There has been a plan for free public wifi on the table here in Orlando for a while. They seemed optimistic about speed and strength (But hey Orlando is smaller than NO). No one really seems to care about it though and it looks like it's going to go the way of the new BasketBall Arena for the Magic and High-speed rail.