centrino

I love my hotel room in Las Vegas. Great view! Very fast Internet access. However, the hotel controls and charges for access to the Internet by IP address. This means I have to keep my iPhone from getting connected unless I want to pay for another connection plan, in addition to the one used for my laptop.

This, however, is going to change next CES thanks to a new Wi-Fi technology that Intel announced this year.

It's called My WiFi and it is a wireless driver and software update to Intel's Centrino 2 processor-based laptops. This software … Read more

Updated on October 24 at 10:20 a.m. with corrected image of Intel laminar jet technology.

Intel wants a laptop to live up to its name.

A computer that sits comfortably, coolly on your lap. The world's largest chipmaker expects a crush of ultrathin laptops from PC makers in 2009 and unveiled cooling technology this week to make sure these svelte air-flow constrained designs stay cool.

To date, cooling technology has focused on keeping the internal components from getting too hot but not the outside of the computer, according to Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel's Mobile … Read more

We've been waiting for August 14 to roll around so we could tell you about Gateway's new budget-minded gaming rig, the P-7811FX.

After all, we're big fans of the high-power, low-price 17-inch laptops Gateway's been putting out this year as Best Buy exclusives, offering Nvidia's powerful GeForce 8800 GPU for a mere $1,350 (or less, depending on retail discounts). Even though new products like this usually leak beforehand, it was a surprise to see the new system posted on Best Buy's Web site today, a day early.

It's a good thing, too, … Read more

Hewlett-Packard will launch a 4-pound "ultralight" business notebook line based on Intel's Centrino 2 silicon this month.

The 12.1-inch HP-Compaq 2230s series packs Centrino 2 processors and Intel's newest GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, which HP lists as "Microsoft DirectX 10 capable."

The weight is listed as starting at 4.07 pounds. By comparison, the Via processor-based HP 2133 Mini-Note (8.9-inch screen) is listed at 2.63 pounds.

Models start at $999 with a T5670 (1.80GHz) Core 2 Duo processor and range up to $1,649 for a model with a … Read more

This week was all about the deuce: after a short delay, Intel introduced its Centrino 2 platform late Monday evening. Laptop manufacturers were quick to adopt the new platform, and many took the opportunity to significantly revamp their laptop lines. Piggybacking on the Centrino 2 announcement were IdeaPads and ThinkPads from Lenovo, LifeBooks from Fujitsu, four new VAIO lines from Sony, three business systems from Toshiba, and two biz systems from Acer. HP will be offering the new platform in its recently-announced Pavilion models; Dell, on the other hand, told us there would be no immediate Centrino 2 offerings, but … Read more

AMD thriving in Intel Centrino 2 notebooks? At Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest PC maker, the answer is "yes."

Although consumer notebooks get most of the press, business notebooks get most of the sales. "The prime purchaser of notebooks still remains, as a segment, business," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during the Intel earnings conference call earlier this week.

Among Hewlett-Packard's slew of upcoming business notebooks (HP Compaq 6730s, 6830s, 6530b, 6930b) with Centrino 2 processors, Advanced Micro Devices' ATI graphics chips figure prominently. And notebooks such as the HP Compaq 6830s and EliteBook 6930p … Read more

Summer is the season for sequels, and Intel's hoping to match the blockbuster success of Centrino Duo with the latest iteration of its mobile platform, Centrino 2. Essentially a marketing term, Centrino 2 (code-named Montevina) is used to describe a raft of new technologies from Intel, including a handful of new Core 2 Duo processors; a new chipset with a faster front-side bus; a new graphics solution with support for high-definition content and switchable graphics; and updated wireless and wired connectivity.

But do you need to run out and buy a Centrino 2 laptop? What are the expected benefits? After the page break we run down the new features and what they'll mean to you.… Read more

Last night, while the East Coast was crawling into bed and the West Coast was tucking into dessert, Intel was officially launching its new mobile platform, Centrino 2. In addition to new processors, the platform includes an 802.11n wireless card and new integrated graphics with support for high-definition content. The platform also supports graphics switching, which lets you choose between integrated graphics (for longer battery life) and discrete graphics (for better performance).

Laptop manufacturers were quick to adopt the new platform, and many took the opportunity to significantly revamp their laptop lines. For your convenience, the first five major … Read more

There was relatively little said Monday at the Centrino 2 launch about new processors. Almost as little as was said about side shows such as a "Montevina" desktop design. The main attraction was the Centrino 2 chipset.

Why? There's not a whole lot that's new about the processors other than faster speeds and improved power efficiency: the new "P" series chips have a thermal envelope of 25 watts versus 35 watts for the previous generation.

The focus of the Centrino 2 launch returned repeatedly to the chipset and accompanying silicon: namely, the Intel 4 … Read more