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Centrino 2 surprises with switchable graphics but disappoints with Wimax
Until yesterday I had missed, arguably, the most important feature of Intel's new Centrino 2 platform: switchable graphics.
Alistair Kemp, PR manager for Intel, explained that the new chipset could flick between the integrated, low-power GMA X4500 graphics and a discrete graphics card on the fly to save battery life when you don't need the brute 3D rendering force of the discrete graphics card.
Unlike Nvidia's hybrid power, this technology supports every mobile graphics card available, presumably because a laptops graphics card isn't directly attached to the video output like it is in a desktop system.
The result is laptops designed for gamers, CAD professionals and HD video buffs can now attain battery life as long as laptops that just rely on integrated graphics.
Centrino 2 also brings a new integrated graphics part, called the GMA X4500. Intel says it will be 1.9x faster in 3Dmark compared with the GMA X3100 graphics chip that is part and parcel of most Santa Rosa laptops. We hope to test this claim in the next month when the GMA X4500 drivers are finished.
A noticeable absentee from the Centrino 2 launch was Wimax, which will arrive later this year. Intel's laptop Wimax offering will be an upgrade for current laptops and an optional extra for Centrino 2 laptops. It'll appear in the form of a PCI Express mini card with Intel's new dual-channel Draft-N card onboard, rated at 450Mbits/sec.
Kemp said the difference in power consumption between Wimax and Wifi was a matter of a few milliwatts, despite suggestions that the power requirement for mobile Wimax devices is currently quite high due to inefficient power amps.
Alistair Kemp, PR manager for Intel, explained that the new chipset could flick between the integrated, low-power GMA X4500 graphics and a discrete graphics card on the fly to save battery life when you don't need the brute 3D rendering force of the discrete graphics card.
Unlike Nvidia's hybrid power, this technology supports every mobile graphics card available, presumably because a laptops graphics card isn't directly attached to the video output like it is in a desktop system.
The result is laptops designed for gamers, CAD professionals and HD video buffs can now attain battery life as long as laptops that just rely on integrated graphics.
Centrino 2 also brings a new integrated graphics part, called the GMA X4500. Intel says it will be 1.9x faster in 3Dmark compared with the GMA X3100 graphics chip that is part and parcel of most Santa Rosa laptops. We hope to test this claim in the next month when the GMA X4500 drivers are finished.
A noticeable absentee from the Centrino 2 launch was Wimax, which will arrive later this year. Intel's laptop Wimax offering will be an upgrade for current laptops and an optional extra for Centrino 2 laptops. It'll appear in the form of a PCI Express mini card with Intel's new dual-channel Draft-N card onboard, rated at 450Mbits/sec.
Kemp said the difference in power consumption between Wimax and Wifi was a matter of a few milliwatts, despite suggestions that the power requirement for mobile Wimax devices is currently quite high due to inefficient power amps.
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