14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like Sony and Toshiba can get along after all. This comes hot on the heels of this year's final stage of the Blu-ray versus HD DVD war, which prompted many to believe that these two companies would never see eye to eye, not in the near future nor the distant one. However, going against this comes the news that Toshiba and Sony are now working together at mass-producing the first 45nm Cell processor, which is set to be ready by sometime in 2009.
The Cell processor is famous mostly because of Sony's Playstation gaming console, although Toshiba has also adopted this small sized processor for one of its recently released portable computer systems. It is this small computer hardware piece that has become the reason behind the collaboration between the two major companies – a chip that is currently manufactured using a 65nm process technology, and which is used in one of the most successful gaming consoles on the planet, the Playstation 3.
However, despite previous rumors that indicated that the new 45nm-built Cell processor would be released this autumn, the two companies are hard at work to deliver the first 45nm-built processors, by sometime next year. The benefits of the 45nm process technology is that it will enable the new chips to consume 40% less power, and might even help Sony manufacture a lower and slimmer version of the current PS3. If the rumors are true, users will possibly get to enjoy the benefits of the new CPU by sometime in the middle of 2009, although that hasn't yet been confirmed.
It is yet uncertain whether the upcoming processor will also become part of one of Toshiba's future high-end portable systems, as is the case with the company's current Qosimo G55, the first laptop with a Cell processor built in. If such a laptop is to be released, we should be expecting better 1080i upscaling, transcoding of video formats, face-based video indexing and gesture control, all of which are features now available in the G55.