14 DAY TRIAL // At this year's edition of Computex, a new concept has surfaced in the computer industry, namely that of smartbooks, ultraportable computer devices designed as alternatives to Intel's low-power netbook systems. The media attention that these fresh devices have received is significant, given they promise most of the things people were looking for in netbooks, such as portability and long battery life.
On that note, it appears that yet another company has set its eyes on this promising market segment. Chip maker Freescale has just introduced six prototypes of what it considers to be a potentially successful smartbook design, developed in collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
“As the smartbook market emerges, new form factors and product categories will evolve to support and better align with user needs, and our engagement with SCAD demonstrates Freescale’s intention to lead this evolution,” said Glen Burchers, Consumer Segment marketing director for Freescale. “This initiative has given Freescale valuable insight into how end-users prefer to interact with smartbooks, and this knowledge will be fed back into our chip design processes, ultimately resulting in future i.MX processors that enable compelling consumer experiences and entirely new classes of consumer devices.”
Freescale announced early this year the introduction of its new ARM-based i.MX51 processor, featuring a core speed of 1GHz and having the potential of powering some of the upcoming ultraportable, Internet-capable computer devices. Smartbooks are essentially built on the idea of ultraportability and longer battery life, making Freescale's latest product a potential solution for this fresh segment.
Freescale's collaboration with SCAD has enabled the chip maker to introduce a number of smartbook prototypes that have been put on display at the Computex show in Taiwan. These designs are said to take into consideration the specific performance features of Freescale's i.MX515 processor.
