Notebook processors

Intel has unveiled its Centrino 2 processor technology products for laptops, powered by five Core 2 Duo processors.

The company also introduced a dual-core mobile processor, the Core 2 Extreme running at 3.06 GHz.

The company plans to unveil eight processors that will include mobile quad-core products and second-generation products for ultra-thin and light notebooks.

In total, the company will release 14 diverse processors.

The Centrino 2 and Centrino 2 with vPro improve on every facet of a laptop’s main features, including performance and battery life, faster draft 802.11n wireless and new business-class manageability capabilities.

The five dual-core processors based on the company’s reinvented transistors (high-k metal gate formula) and a 45 nm manufacturing process. These processors come with a faster 1066 MHz front side bus and up to 6 MB of L2 cache and three versions reduce laptop processor wattage about 30%, down to 25 W.

Also featured is deep power down technology that turns off processing components such as core clocks and cache memory when the laptop is idle for greater energy savings.

The company also unveiled its Mobile 45 Express Chipset and wireless Wi-Fi Link 5000 series. Delivering five times the speed and twice the range of older 802.11a/g technology, the series provides 802.11 draft-N support that delivers data rates up to 450 Mbps.

Switchable graphics and an optional power-saving feature available on Centrino 2-based notebooks, provide both integrated and discrete graphics on a single notebook, enabling users to switch between the two options. Switchable graphics delivers greater 3D performance when needed while providing the option for great power savings for the best of both worlds.

The processor allows the user to enjoy a typical full-length, Blu-ray high-definition video on a single battery charge.

For businesses, the Centrino 2 with vPro technology offers enhanced manageability and security options as companies replace desktops with notebooks and need to remotely diagnose, update and repair systems over a wireless network.

Improved manageability with AMT 4.0 has also been added that provides wireless manageability during system sleep states, ongoing remote configuration capabilities, support for next-generation management standards (WS-MAN and DASH 1.0) and the ability for an employee to initiate communications to IT from outside a company’s firewall.