14 DAY TRIAL // Desktops are rapidly loosing ground in front of notebooks lately, the sales confirm it daily, and every new Intel platform developed for notebooks catches the eye on the market. The long expected Intel Centrino 2 platform, also known by the name of Montevina, has been set for launch on July 14, next Monday. The platform has been delayed for many weeks now, due to some integrated graphics and wireless licensing problems Intel had experienced with the platform.
Starting with Monday, Centrino 2 systems featuring discrete graphics from ATI or NVIDIA will be available. Centrino 2 based notebooks that include Intel's integrated graphics will continue to be unavailable.
It seems that the Centrino 2 platform has been developed mainly for enterprise users, though the consumer focused notebook area will not be left aside either. With the Centrino 2 platform, users will have their hands on the first new Intel 45nm Penryn CPUs, capable of running at 2.4GHz to 2.8GHz core speeds.
Another novelty the Centrino 2 brings is the support for DDR3 memory, beside the included Eco Peak technology, which allows support both for 802.11n and WiMAX. Users will also enjoy extended battery life due to the shrinking from 65nm processors from the previous notebook platforms to the new 45nm CPU used in Centrino 2. The heat output should also be lowered this way. The announced power consumption for the Montevina processors is said to be 25W, 10W less than the previous mobile chips.
The launch of Centrino 2 platform should help Intel get some market share during the back-to-school period. It seems that this is also the time when enterprise representatives renew their laptops. Not to mention that consumers also seek for new ways to expand their computing mobility.
"There is an opportunity here for Intel to sell to both its enterprise and consumer customers, but the Centrino launch has a lot of what the enterprise guys want, like vPro," said John Spooner, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "This launch is a nod to the enterprise side of the house and it's a big refresh opportunity for OEMs and their enterprise notebook lines. It's also a chance to show off some new innovations."
The launch of Centrino 2 platform represents for Intel the latest major event before the release of the Nehalem processors. The Nehalem is meant for desktop computers at the time, but it seems that we will have it on a mobile platform code-named Calpella sometime during 2009.