GCT claims WiMax chip in Asus Eee PC
WiMax is in the cards for the Eee PC. Asus will demonstrate notebooks Monday that integrate WiMax chips from San Jose, Calif.-based GCT Semiconductor.
Asus Eee PC
(Credit: Asus)Despite recent statements that the Eee PC 901 will not get WiMax, GCT Semiconductor announced--along with Asus--Sunday that Asus has integrated GCT's GDM7205 WiMAX single-chip silicon into the F8 notebook series and Eee PC.
GCT says the F8 series and Eee PC will be demonstrated with WiMax at the WiMax Expo Taipei that begins on June 2nd.
The widely-reported specifications for the Eee PC 901 are a 1.6GHz Atom processor, an 8.9-inch screen, solid state drive (12GB or 20GB), 1GB of memory, and either Linux or Windows XP. A future version of the Eee PC is expected to get WiMax.
Intel will also be demonstrating WiMax in the Asus M51VA notebook at Computex. Versions of the Eee PC may also come with the Intel WiMax chipset.
But Asus is clearly working with GCT also. "We are pleased to be working with a proven industry leader like GCT, who has enabled Asus to provide our customers with systems containing reliable high performance WiMax capability," said Jellent Sun, Asus' senior director of notebook product marketing, in a statement.
GCT said that its single-chip WiMax solution enables "lower power consumption for longer battery life, smaller form-factor design and lower bill of materials cost."
GCT is also supplying WiMax chips for notebooks based on Via Technologies silicon.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
