14 DAY TRIAL // Intel's Rich Creek 2 mobile platform is slowly making its way into the next generation of notebooks. One of the first implementors of the new technology will be system vendor Seneca Data, that will be showcasing pre-production units of Rich Creek 2 platform notebooks at the partner conference that will take place tomorrow.
According to the system builder, the new mobile platform introduces for the first time a standard Intel motherboard that gave the server and desktop PC markets a significant boost in sales.
Although they will be showcased tomorrow, the notebooks based on the Rich Creek 2 platform will officially start shipping in June or July this year.
"Rich Creek 2 gives us the ability to build custom notebooks just like we do desktops," said Steve Maser, vice president of product development and marketing for Seneca. "This is the first time that the system builder community has been able to build a notebook from the ground up that is 100 percent build to order. Now we can compete against larger computer makers and build exactly what the customer wants."
Seneca will show its Rich Creek 2 offerings during the Intel Solutions Summit. According to Masser, the system vendor plans to demonstrate the platform using a 2.5 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
The company will mark an important milestone, given the fact that it will perform the demonstration on the first two units that get out from the assembly line. However, the big guns will be pulled during the end of the second quarter, when the manufacturer will publicly make them available.
Rich Creek 2 will play a key role in the notebook industry, and will allow system vendors to customize their offerings in such a way that the units will deliver better performance at lower costs than "notorious" system integrators such as Hewlett Packard, Lenovo and Acer.