New low-power Crusoe chip will make laptops run longer

From...

June 23, 2000
Web posted at: 10:21 a.m. EDT (1421 GMT)

by Dan Neel

(IDG) -- IBM will begin testing the waters to determine whether or not its customers will adopt an IBM ThinkPad powered by Transmeta's Crusoe processor, beginning with a demo of one of the laptops running Windows 2000 at the PC Expo in New York next week.

Leo Suarez, director of world wide product marketing at Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, said the first prototype is a stock IBM ThinkPad model 240 that has undergone no special modification to incorporate the Crusoe processor, an ultra-low-power chip that has gained much attention since being introduced by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Transmeta.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Hardware innovation

"With this technical demonstration, we are trying to fill a requirement we have had in the mobile space since day one," which is a smaller, lighter laptop computer that operates for the entire length of the business day solely on battery power, Suarez said.

"What we are doing is taking our thinnest, lightest offering and marrying that with the Transmeta device to see if we could actually deliver on that lost promise of value. It should last for an 8 hour day, and we want to see if we can actually get there. I'm not claiming that what we will have is an 8 hour machine, but that's what this demo is about," Suarez explained.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

Computerworld's home page

Transmeta exposed

Looking beyond the silicon limits

Transmeta's new CPU game

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-BusinessWorld

TechInformer

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for IT leaders

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

IBM's hesitancy to make claims associated with the Crusoe processor is even more obvious in the company's strategy to first tour with the prototype before making any formal announcement on the integrating the single-watt processor into its mainstream mobile computer offerings.

"Over the next couple of months we will talk with customers and gauge their interest [in the Crusoe-powered ThinkPad], and if we determine the customer feedback is positive, and our engineers can reach the set of criteria we are trying to get to, we will have a formal announcement of the ThinkPad with Transmeta chip sometime in the second half of this year," Suarez said.

IBM initially will target small start-up companies and progressive-minded customers who tend to be early adopters of cutting-edge technologies.

Big Blue then will turn its attention to its large accounts and enterprise customers, seeding them with sample machines configured in the same way as the initial demo system. If corporate customers like what they see, according to Suarez, IBM will go forward with full-scale production of business grade systems equipped with the Crusoe processor.

Up until now, most performance benchmarks done on the Crusoe processor have been run on Linux. Going with Windows 2000 required no special tuning to make the hardware and software compatible, Suarez said, adding that the choosing Windows was a response to customer's preferences.

"Transmeta has a ton of data on the performance of their processor, and their running and testing figures are equivalent to any Wintel offering," Suarez said. "That's the challenge Transmeta has as a company. They have a to prove to the industry they have a better mousetrap."

AMD's low-cost Duron chip takes aim at Celeron
June 20, 2000
Looking beyond the limits of silicon
June 16, 2000
Interview: The inside scoop on Transmeta's Crusoe chip
May 4, 2000
Transmeta shows prototype Web Slate
March 14, 2000
Crusoe cruises ahead
February 10, 2000

Transmeta's new CPU game
PC World
Intel threat launches in Web device
Digit
Transmeta exposed
Industry Standard
Mobile processor battle heats up
Infoworld
Palm V designer plays with Transmeta's Crusoe chip
Infoworld
Too early to assess Crusoe's impact
IDG.net
Looking beyond the silicon limits
IDG.net
Transmeta unveils Crusoe chip
IDG.net

Transmeta home page
IBM home page

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.