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Updated on September 23 at 12:30 a.m. PDT: adding information about the Atom Developer Program.

SAN FRANCISCO--In his keynote at the Intel Developer Forum on Tuesday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini focused on moving beyond the PC while introducing a new processor technology and a new development platform for the Atom processor.

"We're moving from personal computers to personal computing," Otellini said.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini shows a next, next-generation wafer containing 22-nanometer chips

(Credit: Stephen Shankland, CNET News)

He called this a transition to a continuum. "The same experience on any device. How we build this continuum out. That's the theme," he said. "Moore's Law, platform architecture, and software--the combination of these three will allow us to build the continuum."

Otellini also had a surprise. He introduced the company's next, next-generation technology, based on a 22-nanometer process. Intel currently makes chips based on 45-nanometer technology and will move to 32-nanometer by the fourth quarter of this year. After that comes 22-nanometer chips.

Generally, the smaller the chip's geometry, the faster and more power efficient the chip is.

"The world's first working 22-nanometer silicon technology," Otellini said. He showed a wafer containing SRAM memory chips that each contained 2.9 billion transistors. "This is on track for for second half 2011."

In the more immediate future are the 32-nanometer processors. "Thirty-two-nanometer enables us to build a billion transistors in high volume. Started production on Westmere (the 32-nanometer technology) for shipment to customers in Q4." Otellini demonstrated the upcoming 32-nanometer mobile "Arrandale" processor--which integrates graphics silicon with the main processor--in a laptop.

The Intel CEO also introduced a new Intel developer program for the Atom processor in order to boost software adoption on Netbooks and expand the development of software beyond those devices. Asus, Acer, and Dell are supporting the program, Otellini said.

The program provides a framework for developers to create and sell software applications for netbooks with support for handhelds and smart phones available in the future. "We want to fuel the growth of Intel Atom-based products designed for the mobile lifestyle," said Renee James, corporate vice president and general manager, Intel Software and Services Group, in a statement.

As another example of where Atom will be used, Otellini said that automakers Daimler and BMW will use in-vehicle Atom-based infotainment systems from Harmon International in future vehicles.

Otellini also addressed the European Commission's publication on Monday of antitrust allegations against Intel. "They consistently ignored information," Otellini said. He added that customers such as Dell will come forward to state that some of the information was "wrong." In a statement, Intel said Monday that "the Commission relied heavily on speculation found in e-mails from lower level employees that did not participate in the negotiation of the relevant agreements."

Addressing the PC market, Otellini said that he expects "significant growth in 2010." This year he sees "units flat to slightly up," he said, but next year "I think the market is poised for a resurgence."

I have a few questions to ask at this week's Intel Developer Forum....

Why is Intel using a more expensive chip for the new Core i5 and cheaper Core i7 processors? Why does this new chip--code-named Lynnfield--appear to have features Intel isn't using? What's the connection between Lynnfield and a future Intel chip code-named Jasper Forest?

These questions arose as I've been getting ready for IDF by reviewing recent press releases and news stories about Intel's current and forthcoming products, and chatting with fellow analysts about what we're looking forward to seeing there.

The recent announcements of the Core i5 and new Core i7 processors seemed pretty straightforward. Consider Brooke Crothers' piece on CNET: "Out with the old: Intel makes Core 'i' chips cheap." As Crothers explains, the facts are simple: the new Core i7 800-series slots in under the existing 900-series and replaces some older parts. The Core i5 is a new line, clearly positioned below the Core i7. Features, performance, and prices are all lower. That's as it should be.

But in looking at the coverage on some enthusiast sites, a fact jumped out at me. The Lynnfield chip is 12.5 percent larger than the Bloomfield chip used in the higher-priced Core i7 900-series processors (296 square mm vs. 263 square mm), in spite of the fact that Lynnfield only has two memory interfaces and no QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) link.

The big difference between the chips is the addition of 16 lanes of PCI Express on Lynnfield, but that's only about 80 pins plus the control logic. The changes should have roughly canceled each other out. Maybe one chip would be a little bigger than the other, but not by this much.

Updated at 2:15 p.m. PDT: adding information about Dell system.

The main message of the new Core i5 chip is simple: it's cheap--even cheaper than Intel chips based on older technology.

(Credit: Amazon)

The i5, which brings Intel's new "Nehalem" microarchitecture into the mainstream PC market, immediately makes many, if not most, of the older desktop processors obsolete. Consumers need look no further than pricing on sites like Amazon. The i5-750 lists for $250, while the older--based on Intel's last-generation "Core 2" microarchitecture--Q9650 lists for $319.

The official pricing from Intel in quantities of 1,000 units makes the price gap even more stark: $196 for the i5 and $316 for the Q9650.

"The new Core i7's and Core i5's bring pricing to more mainstream levels, with the Core i5-750 at a 1KU (1,000 units) price of $196, which is well below the Core 2 Quad Q9650 at $316," said Intel spokesman George Alfs.

"We are very serious about bringing all new Core processors to new price points and you'll see this trend continue with Westmere," he said, referring to Intel's upcoming processors based on a next-generation 32-nanometer manufacturing process.

Comparing the old with the new, some consumers might point out that the older Q9650 has, for example, more on-chip memory and a higher clock speed than the Core i5. But the writing is on the wall: consumers will almost always opt for new over old when new is less expensive.

On Tuesday, Dell began offering the Studio XPS 8000 tower with the Core i5 starting at $799 and packing 4GB of "Dual Channel DDR3 memory" and a 500GB hard disk drive, among other features. Adding a 20-inch monitor hikes this to $979.

The message is more muddled, however, for the updated Core i7 processors because they maintain the same "i7" identifier as their predecessors--first launched in November--but offer different features that are not readily apparent to less-sophisticated buyers and potentially vexing for some savvy consumers.

"It gets confusing for the more technically knowledgeable buyer, and for us as system builders," said Kelt Reeves, president of enthusiast PC maker Falcon Northwest. "Buying a Core-i7 950 model? Well then you can have a maximum of 12 gigs (gigabytes) of triple channel memory and you buy your memory in sets of 3 sticks. Buying a Core i7-870? Well then your memory is installed in pairs and the max you can have is 8 gigs," he explained.

Reeves continued. "For instance, if you're a heavy Photoshop user having 12 gigs of the fastest memory might be very important to you," he added, saying in that case a consumer would want to opt for a Core i7 900 series over the newer 800 series.

There are other gotchas too. On the i5 processors a feature called hyperthreading is not included, as CNET's Rich Brown pointed out Tuesday. Hyperthreading effectively doubles the number of tasks--or processing threads--a chip can do. "Heavy multitaskers and those who use multithreaded software will feel the loss here," Brown said.

Waiting for a Core i7 laptop? While Intel is slated to release its first mobile "Nehalem" Core i7 processor in the coming months, the desktop counterpart has already spawned a cottage industry of benchmark-busting laptops.

"It's completely revitalized the desktop replacement laptop," said Kelt Reeves, president of enthusiast PC maker Falcon Northwest, referring to designs that have shoehorned a desktop Core i7 processor into a laptop enclosure.

At the very high end of Falcon Northwest's lineup, interest has shifted to models with the Core i7 processor and away from models oriented around extreme-performance graphics cards, Reeves said.

Falcon Northwest laptop can use Core i7 processors running at speeds up to 3.33GHz

(Credit: Falcon Northwest)

For instance, the Falcon Northwest FragBook DRX Core i7-based models come with Nvidia's lower-performance GeForce GTX 280M graphics processor instead of the higher-end Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology, which uses two graphics chips. But performance has actually improved in many cases, Reeves said.

"It's a much better balance of a very-high-powered CPU and a very-high-powered graphics card," he said.

Only at the highest settings in popular games like Crysis and World in Conflict did laptops using older Intel Core 2 processors with SLI graphics offer any competition to the Core i7 models, according to Reeves.

AVADirect Clevo D900F Core i7 laptop: a lot of processing power means a lot of fans (count 'em: 4)

(Credit: CNET Reviews)

But it may be too charitable to call these laptops. Sheer size and heat dissipation requirements almost defy laptop categorization. "There's a huge set of heat pipes and copper cooling fins and fans needed to duct out all that power," Reeves said.

Falcon Northwest is not the only company selling large luggable, heat-spewing laptops. CNET Reviews looked at the AVADirect Clevo D900F Core i7 laptop with the same Nvidia graphics processor and said that "the D900F handily topped all of the other performance laptops we've tested. Its processing results were more on par with the Alienware Area-51 X58 gaming desktop (using a 3.2GHz Intel Core i7 chip)."

Smooth Creations and CyberPower, among others, also offer laptops based on the Core i7 processor.

So when will the real deal appear? The first processor designated officially as a Nehalem mobile processor from Intel is expected to emerge by October. Code-named Clarksfield, it will be a quad-core processor, like the current desktop i7, but not impose the kind of thermal stress on the laptop enclosure that the current i7 does. Clarksfield is expected to have a thermal envelope (referred to as Thermal Design Power) that is below half of the current i7, which is rated at 130 watts for the highest-end processor.

Benchmark results for the Falcon Northwest Core i7 laptop are here.

Core i3, i5, i7. A straightforward, if not insipid, branding scheme, right? Wrong. Those alphanumeric identifiers are fighting words.

Last week, Intel announced a new branding scheme for its upcoming processors. In a blog, spokesman Bill Calder wrote that the branding will be "simplified into entry-level (Intel Core i3), mid-level (Intel Core i5), and high-level (Intel Core i7)." Intel calls the "i" suffix an identifier.

The upcoming Lynnfield chip for desktop PCs, for example, will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability. The upshot of the new branding is to make it easier for less tech-savvy consumers to readily identify classes of Intel chips based three simple identifiers, according to Calder.

But judging by the tenor of many of the comments attached to Calder's brand structure blog, you would think the chipmaker had committed high treason.

In the minds of some, it did. The shortcomings of the current naming scheme notwithstanding, many tech-savvy consumers have gotten used to it. For example, Core 2 Quad means a chip built on the Core 2 architecture with 4 processing cores. Core 2 Duo indicates two cores.

One of the most common criticisms cited in the comments section is that i3, i5, and i7 are too vague. "Above all, I'd like to see...at a glance how many cores and what features they have (or have not)," one comment said. Another comment suggested that Intel add more identifiers. For example, Intel Core i5 4100, where 4 is the number of cores and 100 is a speed rating.

Yet another idea was this: Intel/name/number/year, where "name" is the product name, "number" is a bigger-is-better ranking, and "year" the year the architecture was released.

And another: "Either ditch the Celeron, Pentium and Xeon names completely or embrace them completely. These are fairly well known as the 'good, better, best'."

Updated at 12:15 p.m. PDT: adding Centrino and Deborah Conrad discussions.

Intel has spelled out its branding for the upcoming Core series of processors including the "Lynnfield" and "Clarksfield" chips. The chipmaker also said that "Centrino" will be phased out as a PC brand.

In a post Wednesday on Intel's Web site, spokesman Bill Calder wrote that the branding will be "simplified into entry-level (Intel Core i3), mid-level (Intel Core i5), and high-level (Intel Core i7)."

Calder added that it is "important to note that these are not brands but modifiers to the Intel Core brand that signal different features and benefits."

The upcoming Lynnfield chip (desktop) will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability, Calder wrote. Clarksfield (mobile) will have the Intel Core i7 name.

Deborah Conrad, vice president and director of corporate marketing at Intel, talks about new branding strategy via video on Intel Web site

Arrandale (32-nanometer mobile) will appear as the Core i3 but will ultimately span the Core brand to include Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7. Clarkdale (32-nanometer desktop) will be available under the Core i3 and Intel Core i5 brands, Calder said.

The widely-used Centrino moniker will be phased out as a PC brand, according to Calder. Centrino "will be used as a name for Wi-Fi and WiMAX products" and "still be in market on mobile PCs into next year," he said. But eventually will be discontinued.

"In the back half of this year you'll begin to see Core i5 and more Core i7s coming to market. Then by the first part of next year you'll begin to see Core i3, and i5, i7," said Deborah Conrad, vice president and director of corporate marketing at Intel, speaking in a video posted on Intel's Web site. "Then the old names will get retired as those products get phased out," she said.

Intel also disclosed other branding. "We will still have Celeron for entry-level computing at affordable price points, Pentium for basic computing, and of course the Intel Atom processor for all these new devices ranging from netbooks to smartphones," according to the post. "For PC purchasing, think in terms of good-better-best with Celeron being good, Pentium better, and the Intel Core family representing the best we have to offer," he wrote.

"We are focusing our strategy around a primary 'hero' client brand which is Intel Core. Today the Intel Core brand has a mind boggling array of derivatives (such as Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, etc). Over time those will go away and in its place will be a simplified family of Core processors," Calder wrote.

Calder continued: "This will be an evolutionary process taking place over time, and we acknowledge that multiple brands will be in the market next year including older ones, as we make the transition."

Updated at 9:25 p.m. PDT: correcting for expected Clarksfield and Lynnfield availability.

Intel has been talking a lot about Westmere chips lately. So, here's a quick look at Intel's first chips based on 32-nanometer technology.

Chief Executive Paul Otellini addressed Westmere during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call this week, saying the Westmere chip design will ship later this year, earlier than expected. "We have shipped thousands of Westmere samples to over 30 customers already," Otellini said in the conference call.

Intel's current lineup is made up of processors based on 45-nanometer technology. Generally, the smaller the geometries, the faster and more power efficient the chip. The move to 32-nanometer will put Intel ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices, which isn't expected to transition to 32-nanometer chips until late in 2010.

The first installment of the Westmere family, the Clarkdale and Arrandale processors, is expected later this year, according to published Intel documentation. Clarkdale is a 32-nanometer desktop processor with built-in graphics--what Intel describes as a "multi-chip package with graphics integrated in (the) processor." Arrandale is a version--also with integrated graphics--for the mobile market, due later this year.

Intel Nehalem/Westmere chip lineup

(Credit: Intel)

In 2010, a processor code-named Gulftown (see graphic) is slated to appear and will be Intel's first six-core desktop processor. The Westmere chip will plug into existing Intel motherboard designs.

Westmere will support Intel's Hyperthreading technology, which doubles the number of tasks that can be handled simultaneously.

In related news, Intel's Nehalem mobile "Clarksfield" (don't confuse with Clarkdale) and Nehalem desktop "Lynnfield" processors will come in the second half of the year, according to Intel.

Chinese-language technology Web site HKEPC says Clarksfield quad-core processors will have speeds of 1.6GHz, 1.73GHz, and 2.0GHz and range in price from $364 to $1,054.

Both Annandale (32-nanometer) and Clarksfield (45-nanometer) chips are targeted at the "thin-and-light" laptop market, according to Intel documentation.

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel plans to bring its first dual-core Atom to market next month, it was revealed here Monday during the Intel Developer Forum. The chipmaker also disclosed more details of the Nehalem processor.

The power-efficient processor will be targeted at Atom-based desktops called nettops. Currently, Intel offers the Atom N230 processor for nettops. This chip has a slightly higher power envelope than the Atom processors built exclusively for mobile devices.

That news was revealed to this reporter by an Intel employee as senior vice president Pat Gelsinger was delivering his IDF keynote, which included more specifics about Nehalem, the family of chips the company plans to begin rolling out in the fourth quarter. Gelsinger, the general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, showed the first wafer holding individual eight-core processors, detailed the power-saving features of the Nehalem processors, and confirmed future mobile Nehalem processors.

Intel Nehalem processor lineup as shown at IDF 2008

(Credit: Intel)

Also due in September is the six-core Dunnington server processor, the final member of Intel's 45-nanometer "Penryn" family, which will ship to customers next month, Gelsinger said.

Most of his keynote centered on Nehalem, and one of the features Intel was pushing hard at IDF was a technology called Turbo mode.

Turbo mode is essentially a switch that turns off unused processor cores and then uses the remaining active cores more efficiently. This kind of sophisticated power-management technology will be used in both Nehalem-based laptops and servers, according to Gelsinger, and will become increasingly necessary as Intel brings out chips with more cores like the eight-core Nehalem processor due next year.

In short, in multi-core processors, cores not doing much can still use power. So, it's better to use, for example, a couple of cores more efficiently than four cores inefficiently.

The power saving technology is enabled by "an integrated microcontroller which only works on power management," said Rajesh Kumar, an Intel Fellow, who spoke during Gelsinger's keynote. There are about 1 million transistors dedicated solely to power management, Kumar said.

The feature "requires no operating system intervention. It is fully detected and managed by the hardware. If it has detected an idle core, it is able to reallocate that power budget to the other cores," Gelsinger said in an interview after his keynote.

On another front, Intel showed the first eight-core Nehalem chip. "This is the first showing of the eight-core Nehalem-EX," Gelsinger said in his keynote. He said the chip is a monolithic design, meaning that all eight cores are on one piece of silicon.

Nehalem-EP, or Nehalem Efficient Performance, will be a quad-core chip for mainstream servers and workstations. What Intel traditionally calls two-socket servers, Gelsinger said.

The mainstream desktop will be the Core i7. "With the i7 we have high-end desktop and extreme," Gelsinger said. The extreme edition is for overclockers, he said. Enthusiast gamers often overclock processors (ratcheting up clock speed beyond the rated speed) to gain extra performance.

"Turbo Mode" is a linchpin Nehalem technology

(Credit: Intel)

But there will be more pedestrian dual-core versions of Nehalem too. "There will be versions for the desktop that will be dual-core as well," Gelsinger said.

Gelsinger also talked about Intel's plans to put graphics directly onto the same piece of silicon as the processor. This will be a first for Intel.

He described why Intel is putting graphics right next to the processor. "There's a big sucking sound near the CPU. It keeps pulling things closer to it. This is uniquely enabled by Moore's Law...and as things get closer together I'm able to drive down thermal envelopes (i.e., heat) and decrease physical form factors (i.e., enable smaller computer designs)," Gelsinger said.

Gelsinger broke down the future processor lineup--with graphics on the processor die and without--as follows. "Lynnfield and Clarksfield are the versions without graphics. Havendale and Auburndale are the versions with integrated graphics." (Even Intel executives occasionally get confused by all the code names and it took two tries for Gelsinger to get this right.)