New Intel Atom processor aims at tablets

April 11, 2011 By Geoff Duncan

Ever notice that the chips driving tablets are made by the likes of Apple, Samsung, Nvidia, and Qualcomm? Intel wants to change that.

As tablets are moving into a central role in technology users’ everyday personal and professional lives, it’s no surprise that almost every technology company on the planet wants to have a strong presence in the tablet market. However, chipmaking giant Intel has largely been left out of the revolution: while its processors power the vast majority of notebook, netbook, desktop, and server systems on the market, tablets are dominated by ARM-based processors from the likes of Samsung, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and (of course) Apple. Intel is looking to change that, however, with its new Atom Z670 “Oak Trail” processors, which can power 1080p viedeo playback and offer longer life than previous Atom offerings—and Intel says it offers more operating system flexibility than anything else on the market.

“The new Intel Atom ‘Oak Trail’ platform, with ‘Cedar Trail’ to follow, are examples of our continued commitment to bring amazing personal and mobile experiences to netbook and tablet devices, delivering architectural enhancements for longer battery life and greater performance,” said Intel’s netbook and tablet VP and general manager Doug Davis, in a statement. “We are accelerating the Intel Atom product line to now move faster than Moore’s law, bringing new products to market on three process technologies in the next 3 years.”

Intel says the Atom Z670 can handle 1080p video output over HDMI, along with Adobe Flash so users can tap into rich online content and gaming, all without sacrificing battery life compared to earlier offerings. The Atom 670 features integrated graphics and a die size 60 percent smaller than its predecessors, reducing power and heat dissipation requirements. Intel also touts the processors as offering manufacturers more flexibility than any other tablet processor, with support for Android, MeeGo, and even Windows operating systems, and the systems sport an Enhanced Deep Sleep mode for improved power savings during inactivity.

However, rather than pitching the Atom Z670 to consumer device manufacturers, Intel seems convinced the best market for the processor is vertical markets like devices for mobile clinical assistance, retail, and industrial applications—and they’re willing to back that up with seven-year lifecycle support for WIndows and MeeGo (but not, it seems, for Android). Nonetheless, manufacturers planning to bring out tablets based on the Atom Z670 includes Razer, Viiv, Motion Computing, as well as heavy-hitters Lenovo and Fujitsu.

It remains to be seen whether Intel’s Oak Trail Atom processors—and the promised “Cedar Trail” Atoms promised to be next in line—will meet the power consumption and performance requirements that, so far, have driven the tablet market into the arms of ARM. And, lest we forget, one of the few things we know for sure about Windows 8 is that Microsoft plans to support ARM processors.

Showing 3 comments

Paul Lewtey at 2:51pm 11th April 2011 Intel has lead the way in chip technology over the last couple of decades, Unfortunately that's not in my opinion because they are the best, but probably because they didn't have many competitors that could jump into bed with microsoft more easily, as it were. Now it seems, other companies are freeing us of microsoft and all its lagginess such that we can enjoy other operating systems, I spent my young life learning how to use win 3.11 then 95 then 2k then xp then vista and 7 and back to xp sp3 oh the joy of paying over and over for the same thing! Its funny how in all these years microsoft and intel have not figured out how to run quickly and smoothly, and then all of a sudden Android pops up for free! of course it's not perfect yet but the day will come I'm sure when we can simply turn on a laptop or pc to find that within the blink of an eye its all there. You may wonder what this comment is all about, Well, simply put, I, and I'm sure being an average human with average intelligence along with average wants and needs , can safely say that, the new gen of intel chips put into microsoft computers will be a little too late in terms of power and value especially when Us consumers are fed up of paying a high price for very small incremental upgrades in our toys, I give microsoft and apple the award for giving us something at the expense of something else(which we were happy with). Will we ever see an intel pc turn on straight away with no lag? I don't mean for this comment to sound like a rant and I'm not slating microsoft, intel or apple, I mearly state that its about time they stepped up to the marl, I realise android will eventually be something that we will pay for or it will be host to googles advertising thus clogging up with pop ups but for now we live in the knowledge that you catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. Thanks for listening Paul
1. someguy at 6:46pm 11th April 2011 fic bandwidth. I see clouds (chrome OS) and online backups less and less attractive. I have an Xp /w sp3 too and the instant on feature can be accomlished via hibernating. As for hardware I'm waiting for amd's APU pc's bc I run lots of apps at once. If I'm in the middle of a game and ppl want look up something or check their facebook really fast, it looks like the APU will multitask alot faster ie less lag.
Alex Cha at 8:25pm 11th April 2011 About time!