VideoYou've probably already noticed television spots for Intel's new mobile technology. Called Centrino, this processing platform for notebooks, PDAs and other portables, was launched amid tremendous fanfare in March. At the time, Mike Splinter, executive vice president at Intel, reportedly called Centrino the "most exciting invention and development in mobile computing since the laptop. Gushed Splinter: "We fundamentally believe that we're at a tipping point in computing."
Whether we're at a tipping point -- or just slightly listing -- remains to be seen. Like most first-generation technology, Intel's Centrino sounds great in the press release. And like most first-generation technology, it's also a long way from perfect.
Ironically, the biggest problem with Intel's new offering is that potential buyers seem awfully confused by what Centrino actually is. And Intel has only itself to blame for that.
For starters, Centrino technology is based on the Pentium M processor, which is the first chip Intel has ever developed from the ground up for use in mobile machines. In other words, it's not a desktop chip that's been jimmied to work in a laptop. Of course, driving home that very important selling point might have been a simpler branding task if Intel's previous chip for notebooks wasn't called the Pentium 4-M.
Compounding the confusion: the clock speed of the older Pentium 4-M chips (found in most mid-range to high-end notebooks) is actually higher than the new Pentium M chips. Indeed, most Pentium 4-M notebooks currently on the market boast clock speeds of 1.8GHz to 2.4GHz. By contrast, the top clock speed of the first iteration of the new Centrino chips run at 1.6GHz (1.5GHz and 1.4GHz versions are also available).
So the new chip is slower? Again, confusion. Clock speed, which essentially tells you how often a processor goes back to retrieve information, can be confusing. Higher clock speeds don't always translate into faster computers. While that may seem counter-intuitive, consider this: The British say "What's for pudding?" when they mean "What's for dessert?"
Anyway, the new Pentium M may have a slower processing speed than the Pentium 4-M, but thanks to some fancy engineering (including doubling the size of the memory cache on the chip), the processor is actually faster than the older chip. Indeed, PC Magazine reports that a 1.4-GHz Pentium M unit easily beat out a 2.4-GHz P4-M system on its Business Winstone and Multimedia Content Creation Winstone tests.
While Intel should be able to educate buyers that the Pentium M is faster than the Pentium 4-M (one possible ad campaign: "The new chip is faster."), it still has a long way to go in getting consumers to glom on to the "wireless" part of its new wireless technology. You see, the Centrino package includes not only the new Pentium M processor, but a chip-set designed to jazz up graphics (a less jazzy chip-set is also available), and more importantly, a PRO/Wireless 2100 mini-PCI wireless network card.
At first blush, it's the wireless network card that would seem to hold the most intrigue for corporate buyers. After all, corporate executives and sales managers have grown sick of trying to smoke out Internet connections at airports, hotels, and train stations. With Centrino technology, you simply look for a hotspot -- that is, a public area that's wired for Centrino -- and presto, a user can get right up on the net.
A great idea, right? The problem is, there aren't that many hotspots out there right now. Intel is investing a lot of money in boosting the number of Wi-Fi hot spots around the world. But currently, there are only 3,000 to 4,000 such locales verified to work with Centrino-enabled devices. By the end of the year, Intel expects that number to have grown into the tens of thousands.
We'll see. We'll also see how long it takes for Intel to roll out a Centrino platform that supports both the 802.11a and 802.11b wireless protocols. Initially, Intel announced that its wireless card would support both the 802.11a and 802.11b wireless protocols. But the company failed to get the 802.11a ready in time.
And that's a problem. The lion's share of corporate IT departments have already embraced the 802.11a protocol for wireless networks in corporate offices.
The lack of a dual-protocol card has also added to the overall fog surrounding Centrino. Once notebook makers realized that the Pro/Wireless card in the Centrino system would only support the 802.11b protocol, they turned to third party vendors to supply dual-protocol cards. Faced with this defection, Intel essentially stuck it to notebook makers, saying their products could only carry the Centrino moniker if they included all three components of the technology -- that is, the processor ("Remember, it's faster"), chip set, and PRO/Wireless 2100 mini-PCI card.
Hence, notebooks that contain the Pentium M chip, but not the PRO/Wireless 2100 card, cannot carry the Centrino logo. More murkiness.
It remains to be seen if CFOs, CTOs, and other purchasers of portable computers will be put off by all the confusion surrounding the Centrino.
I hope not. The fact is, despite Intel's botched launch, the company's latest offering is a real breakthrough in mobile computing. Intel engineers worked hard to improve the chip's ability to shift clock speed and voltage intelligently, based on the tasks being performed. As a result, Pentium M-powered notebooks run a long time on a single battery charge. A very long time. In early tests, Pentium-M based notebooks lasted five hours per charge. And according to Cnet, the IBM's ThinkPad T40 hit the seven-hour mark on that Website's battery run-down test.
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