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45nm, quad-cores, ultra thin, sometimes smaller is better

Intel's focus for 2007 is to deploy its Santa Rosa platform, the Centrino successor to Napa. Intel, along with other partners, is working towards making computers smaller, lighter, and overall more efficient. But this is not to say that many of these platforms will be for home users. In fact, a large portion of Intel's initiative is to enable designs for thin-client computing -- devices geared towards the office space. Intel's roadmap indicates that all of 2007 will revolve around Santa Rosa, but hinted that a new platform will be announced sometime in the second quarter of 2008.

Codenamed Montevina, Intel's successor to Santa Rosa will not be a complete overhaul nor a new design in the way that its predecessor was. Instead, Montevina will build on Santa Rosa, using good things from that platform such as: small form factors, more efficient layout, minimum of DX9 integrated graphics support, HDCP encryption for graphics over all mainstream digital outputs such as HDMI, DVI and UDI, HD DVD and Blu-ray support and Robson solid state technology.

Montevina will utilize new chipsets dubbed Cantiga GM and PM. Both replace Crestline, which was based on Intel's 965 chipset family. Montevina will also introduce ICH9M or ICH9 Enhanced, which replaces ICH8M in Santa Rosa.

Intel will be introducing several new features to Montevina. VT Technology and Intel Trusted Execution Technology have both made its way into the new platform. Intel will also finally show off Robson 2.0, which will allow for high-speed solid state flash memory to be used for booting-up an operating system. Robson 2.0 also supports Microsoft's instant-on and off technologies in Vista. Keep in mind that the Robson technology family is for mobile platforms -- Intel has Snowgrass, which is the same technology for desktop platforms.

While Santa Rosa utilized Core 2 Duo processors, Montevina will revolve around Intel's upcoming Penryn processor, which is the direct successor of and 45nm-shrink of mobile Conroe. With Penryn at its core, Intel hopes to have its platforms utilizing 45nm technology by the second half of 2008.

Other features of Montevina-based platforms will come standard with gigabit Ethernet and Intel AMT 4.0 technology. AMT will allow IT managers to remotely troubleshoot and update features on a hardware level, such as firmware updates.

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Nice! The results from competition with AMD
By Marlowe on 1/31/2007 11:36:01 AM , Rating: 2
You can tell Intel is feeling the heat from AMD. This new platform looks very good! Intel has been leading long now with their nice Centrino platform, but AMD is catching up with their ATI made chipsets. Like the new AMD 690G chipset for notebooks looks really good. I think Intel will lead in this area for some time yet, but I think they can feel the pressure of AMD's more and more competitive solutions! Looks like they are putting som serious effort into making these Santa Rosa and Montevina platforms good :)

Competition is good :)




By epsilonparadox on 1/31/2007 12:24:03 PM , Rating: 1
How is this a response to AMD when AMD doesn't even have a mobile platform? The AMD 690G is just a rebranded chipset from ATI which was going to be released anyways if ATI were still independent. And probably would have been released for both AMD and Intel. If anything, its AMD thats been feeling the heat for the longest time in the mobile sector which prompted them to buy ATI so they could create a platform and compete at Intel's level.


RE: Nice! The results from competition with AMD
By Marlowe on 1/31/2007 4:34:58 PM , Rating: 2
Of course they are rebranded chipsets! That was exactly what I said! What I was trying to say was that we would never see such innovation and effort put into it from Intels side if there had been no AMD and AMD had not been cathing up on them in this sector.

And of course AMD has a platform for the mobile space. The only thing they don't have in their platform in comparison to Intel is in-house made wifi. They have their TurionX2 cpu's, chipsets like the excellent 690G and several gpu solutions - of course originally made by ATI but what does that matter? =) In addition, Intel only has their integrated gpu's for their mobile platform - with AMD you can choose between several integrated and more powerful solutions in many steps - all inside the same "platform".

What AMD does not have is the fancy Centrino-equivalent platform brand names.. other than that, they are certainly not lacking. =)


RE: Nice! The results from competition with AMD
By obeseotron on 2/1/2007 1:30:37 PM , Rating: 2
Not trying to bash AMD here, I run an AMD system at home, but in what way is AMD even remotely competitive with Intel in the mobile space? Intel has the brand, a faster chip and lower power consumption. AMD has a good processor and good chipsets, but they're hardly turning the screws on Intel.


By Goty on 2/1/2007 2:01:20 PM , Rating: 2
Go read some reviews, Turion based laptops often offer better battery life than their Centrino counterparts while also offering competitive performance.


By Chadder007 on 2/1/2007 4:10:25 PM , Rating: 2
Sooo...you work for AMD?


RE: Nice! The results from competition with AMD
By Steele on 2/1/2007 5:00:12 PM , Rating: 2
Intel's mobile platforms only offer the Intel integrated graphics? Then how do you explain the NVidia Quadro 110 in my notebook? Is it the result of some kind of evil curse? Or could it be that you're just wrong?

Steele


By Seymourbbuts on 2/4/2007 4:50:10 PM , Rating: 2
Was that NVIDIA Quadro PRODUCED by Intel?


By JeffDM on 2/4/2007 10:41:25 PM , Rating: 2
I don't think that makes sense, why does it matter who made the chip? The impression was that external chips weren't possible or valid. That's like saying AMD doesn't have a valid platform because they don't offer a wireless chip, which is nonsense.


By vignyan on 2/5/2007 1:28:18 AM , Rating: 2
Ahem!! Intel is facing heat from AMD in chipsets????? well i think you will have to think about it again... Processors.. well may be... but holding >70% of the market share in the chipsets domain is not a place to be facing heat... The power consumption - Which is the major deciding factor for a mobile platform is given the best from Intel Chipsets alone!!
Not arguing... But its not easy to sell the products by just brand-names... not for this long!!


By therealnickdanger on 1/31/2007 12:50:39 PM , Rating: 3
Nothing mentioned in this article appears to have anything to do with AMD. In fact, nothing Intel has announced here even has an AMD counterpart. Competition is great, but this is less about Intel being competitive and more about Intel leading the industry.


Intel Trusted Execution Technology
By bottle23 on 1/31/2007 5:17:33 PM , Rating: 3
...This is the technology that worries me.

It can be used to enforce DRM.

I'd be OK with it, if they have an option that allows you to disable it in the BIOS.




RE: Intel Trusted Execution Technology
By goku on 1/31/2007 8:46:43 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed.. Funny how people are only now getting scared of DRM. I saw this coming over 3 years ago and it seems unfortunately that all of this is coming true...


Lets not forget...
By Comdrpopnfresh on 1/31/2007 1:41:42 PM , Rating: 1
The aim of the mobile market is efficiency. Intel may be feeling some heat from AMD, with AMD releasing 'fusion' later. Adding ati graphics cores directly to the package, allowing them access to speedy HT lanes for connections to memory almost as fast as those on a discrete board, and generally moving many things to a small package meets the goals of the industry. Intel is years away from integrating memory controllers to their cpus, let alone a graphics core. Its going to end up that, if you want high performance graphics on a mobile machine with intel, you'll have to buy a discrete graphics solution which add weight, heat, power dissipation, and the money of generally overpriced components, not to mention a different motherboard which does not have onboard video. You'll also eat up pci-e lanes that could be used for more addin cards or other connections.
With fusion, it keeps prices down, performance up, and is therefore efficient. And its no bummer, because for the most part, graphics cards are not usually upgradeable on notebooks such as dell; and upgrading a cpu voids the warranty- fusion gives people the same longevity of a product for less...




RE: Lets not forget...
By Phynaz on 1/31/2007 2:21:34 PM , Rating: 2
Heat from a product that has been pushed back two years? Not likely.

Also Fussion is not about performace AT ALL. It's just to reduce power, and even then not that much. Read the articles, AMD has been back pedaling ever since they annouced Fusion.

"At initial announcement of ATI's acquisition in 2006, AMD was presenting Fusion as a "2H 2007/1H 2008" product aimed at "notebooks, desktops and servers" - since then, the timeframe has been pushed back several times. At one point, during an interview with AMD's Phil Hester, "late 2009" was even stated but later excused as a mistake on the editor's part.

What is a tad more surprising, however, is that the project is now said to be shooting for "significant, though not dramatic" increases in performance-per-watt. This is in sharp contrast to AMD's initial announcements, which heralded Fusion as a truly revolutionary offering. The current justification behind Fusion is power consumption, as having the CPU, the GPU and the memory controller on the same chip would reduce the interconnect bandwidth (=> power) required in the system and also eliminate one potential performance bottleneck. Its success will thus depend on AMD's execution and the chip's performance characteristics, which we will hopefully be able to judge better by the time prototypes are available in late 2008."

http://www.beyond3d.com/


I suppose it served it's purpose of creating hype.


LAN Party machines...
By therealnickdanger on 2/1/2007 4:27:01 PM , Rating: 2
Wow, give me computers that look like the picture with integrated DX10 graphics (nothing too fancy) and you've got quite a nice portable desktop on the cheap. Personally, I would rather just have my E1705, but high-powered laptops are spendy...




Santa Rosa / Robson technology
By sonoran on 2/2/2007 1:56:14 PM , Rating: 2
I saw an internal video comparing machines with and without Robson technology (the flash caching mechanism). The difference was nothing short of amazing. I want! I want! I want! And when you see the difference, you'll want it too. I'd rip my desktop machine apart and upgrade the MB today if I could buy one with that capability, and I hate going through all that hassle.

* Not speaking for Intel Corp *




"Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn." -- Seagate CEO Bill Watkins











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