Sporting ARM-like battery life, but using the x86 architecture

Jan 12, 2012 08:13 GMT  ·  By

Intel has recently confirmed the rumors regarding the launch of its Atom Clover Trail processors for tablet devices, which according to the company are said to arrive in the second half of this year, pretty much at the same time as Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

Intel’s low power Atom processors will succeed the current Oak Trail chips and just like their predecessors will be manufactured using 32nm process technology.

Despite employing the same fabrication process, Intel says that these processors will be competitive with the current ARM-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices in this regard.

For Intel this means being able to provide between 8 and 10 hours of battery life and weeks of standby time.

Even lower power Atom chips, based on the company’s 22nm Tri-Gate fabrication process, will arrive in 2013, according to liliputing, while the 14mm Atoms are scheduled for a 2014 launch.

From what we know at this point in time, Intel’s Clover Trail Atom CPUs will be introduced into the same Z-series product family as the current Oak Trail devices.

Right now, it’s hard to tell if these upcoming Clover Trail processors will be able to rise up to Intel’s expectations or if they will face the same faith as the Oak Trail chips that only managed to get a few design wins, most from largely unknown manufacturers.

Windows 8 will definitely help Clover Trail in this regard, but Microsoft’s new OS is also expected to help ARM bring its processors into new market sectors, including the enterprise space.

A Windows 8-running Clover Trail tablet was on display at Intel’s CES 2012 booth. This was actually Intel’s reference design for Clover Trail tablets, the first such devices being expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of this year.