Intel touts chips for graphics, control

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Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Intel Corp. added two members to its family of laptop microprocessors Wednesday, saying one will give consumers better graphics while the other will provide network administrators easier ways to manage fleets of portable PCs.

Intel announced the consumer offering, called Centrino Duo, and its corporate cousin, Centrino Pro, at an event in San Francisco. On display were dozens of laptops already running the new microprocessors and their surrounding chipsets -- auxiliary components that help these laptop \"brains\" work faster and smarter while maximizing battery life.

\"It's real, it's not something that will be coming in two months,\" said Intel technical marketing engineer Steve Young.

Industry analyst Jim McGregor, with the market research firm In-Stat, said these latest versions of the 4-year-old Centrino family represent useful but not earth-shattering advances in the laptop microprocessor market that Intel dominates.

McGregor said rival Advanced Micro Devices, which is strongest in server and high-performance desktop PCs, has been late in delivering new notebook chips.

The upshot is that Intel was free to sell the sizzle Wednesday, secure in the knowledge that it is already ahead in delivering the steak. A relaxed Mooly Eden, vice president of the company's mobile products division, had fun with his presentation Wednesday, alluding to the love-hate relationship that many professionals have with the always-connected world of mobile computing.

\"If I'm going to spend more time with my notebook than with my wife, I want it to be nice, sleek and sexy,\" he quipped.

In terms of performance, the prime advantage of the new Centrino for consumers will likely be flashier graphics owing partly to a better integration of the chip technology with Microsoft's new Vista operating system.

Another feature of consumer interest is the incorporation of a new-and-upgraded version of wireless technology, 802.11n, that should double the range at which a laptop can connect to a network to a realistic distance of 40 to 50 yards, according to Young, the Intel technical marketer.

McGregor, the industry analyst, said the new Centrino Pro includes features that will let system administrators more easily update software or debug mobile PCs. He said building these features into the hardware will also mean that small to midsize businesses that opt for the Centrino Pro laptops will also have easier access to these remote administration tools.

Refreshing the Centrino product line should also help Intel's fortunes, as it has a freer hand at pricing portable processors than it does with desktops, where AMD is more competitive. Bloomberg News cited a comment that Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini made last week to that effect. He said that every percentage of market share that shifts from desktops to notebooks equals $100 million of extra sales in this mobile category that his company dominates.

E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle