Intel make a “remarkable leap forward”.
Chip giant launched 4th generation Core family in Sydney last night promising to be the bee-all-and-end-all for tabs, notebooks, Ultrabooks, 2 in 1 PC s and everything else in between.
Intel 4th gen Core processors is a “huge breakthrough for us,” declared Greg Bryant, VP General Manager Asia Pacific, backed by a slew of partners including Sony, LG, Dell, Lenovo, who showed off their computing wares at the event.
Intel 4th gen. computer processors, known as ‘Haswell’, promise 50% better battery life than 3rd gen. Ivy Bridge, “eye popping” graphics on a slew of PCs -2-in-1s, tablets, portable all-in-ones and business PC’s with Intel vPro.
Intel new chip technology also brings facial recognition, ‘Dragon’ voice command where you can so stuff like turn on music simply by speaking at your PC.
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“We have increased graphics capabilities dramatically,” he said, with Intel Iris and Iris Pro graphics built in – up to 200% improvement – or double graphics performance compared to Ivy Bridge – and gave a pretty impressive demo of gaming on Haswell chips and the graphics quality of 4K TV.
HD movies playback on PC running 4th gen processors is now up to 9 hours – up from 6 hrs in previous 3rd generation Core’s.
Intel 4th gen is all about all about touch computing, which has “has really caught on” – all the devices displayed last night ran Windows 8 touch based OS.
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“All 4th gen PC have touch as standard..thats how far we’ve come,” Bryant declared.
Intel says 4th gen processors are “the most scalable products in history” and will be inside everything from high end PC’s to the humble notebook for $499.
You’ll see a “remarkable leap forward” – devices will be “thinner, lighter, cooler, quieter.”
But what about tablets?
The hottest thing in computing right now are “absolutely” on Intel’s hit list, said Byrant, and it has already got a gig with Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, announced last week.
And its just as well, as the traditional PC market is fast disappearing at the consumer end – set to drop 15% in Oz this year with notebooks particularly destined to suffer a major loss.
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Mobile computing is something which has eluded Intel, until now with UK rival AMD getting ahead of the race, as Intel struggled to develop power efficient chips.
“Between now and the holiday we have about 30 tablet designs that are compelling and you’ll see in the market,” said Intel’s GM Asia Pacific, when asked by Channel News.
Apart from Samsung, the only other known tablets partners is Asus – but this is set to change insists Intel VP, although declined to be more specific on partners.
These tab design will be “across form factors and environments.. its a good start, I’m not going to say our work is done.”
Intel say it will be supporting all platforms Windows, Android and Chrome base OS.
“Its a pretty exciting time for us..certainly the lines are blurring..between form factors and how people use technology”.
“We’ve changed our philosophy, how we design products, how we make transistors,” Bryant added.
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| Even the PC is looking a bit different, these days. |
But despite Intels new push on tablets, the chip giant still pushed hard on the new slimmer, faster notebooks, ultrabooks and PCs line up at the event yesterday, as Bryant spoke of “exciting new solutions” including 2 -in-1 PC’s, new Ultrabooks, longer life tablet-notebook convertibles.
“As the lines [between form factors] blur more and more ..we are going to help blur them,” he declared.
“Tablets and notebooks are merging.. you can do both,” in one device.
“I believe we are shifting to an era where people no longer have to compromise…. between do I want a tablet or a notebook PC..they are merging …you can do both.”
However, his final word was telling of Intel’s precarious position in the new tablet world as he declared: “We’ve a lot of work to do,” adding “we’re starting to see momentum.”
