Japan Handheld With Intel Atom Chip Debuts

Sharp got atomized Monday. The Japanese electronics maker along with Willcom announced the ultra-mobile Willcom D4 "communication device" based on Intel's Atom processor and Microsoft's Vista operating system.

Microsoft and Intel were also credited with development of the device, according to the Japanese-language release on the Sharp Web site.

The handheld-size device uses a 1.33GHz Z520 Intel Atom processor and runs Windows Vista Home Premium (with Service Pack 1). Other prototype devices based on similar designs--referred to as mobile Internet devices or MIDs--have also been shown running the Linux operating system.

With a separate headset, the device can also be used as a phone using Wilcom's Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) network, both Sharp and Willcom said.

The device weighs in at 470 grams (about one pound) and features a 5-inch sliding LCD (1024x600/262K colors) with an LED backlight, a 1.8-inch 40GB hard disk drive (Ultra ATA/100), 64-key QWERTY keyboard, a built-in camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a mirco SD card slot, and a USB 2.0 slot.

The D4's inclusion of a 40GB hard disk drive is an indicator that the device is meant to run Windows--because of the operating system's typically larger footprint--not Linux.

Intel Atom technology includes a single-chip with integrated graphics called the Intel System Controller Hub.

Atom will find its way into fit-in-your-pocket MIDs from Gigabyte, Toshiba, LG Electronics, Lenovo, and BenQ, among others. Netbooks (inexpensive, Internet-centric ultra-small notebook PCs) such as Asus's popular Intel-based Eee PC, MSI's Wind PC, and Clevo will also use the chip.

Willcom D4 is slated for a June release and is expected to be priced at 128,600 yen ($1,272).

Intel Atom Chip Makes Strong Showing

Intel's Atom processor was prominently displayed in systems at a conference in Japan. The chipmaker's next-generation X4500 graphics also made an appearance.

Small systems and circuit boards using the Atom processor appeared on the Web site PC Watch, which highlighted designs at a "Systems Expo" in Tokyo.

A host of small devices with the Atom processor are due in June. The 45-nanometer chip will compete with processors from Via Technologies such as the C7 and upcoming Isaiah processor.

Small PCs and computer systems using the low-power Atom processor included a small embedded computer from Japan-based Dux, a car "infotainment" system from Portwell Japan, and a motherboard for mobile internet devices from Sophia Systems.

Advantech was also showing an Atom-based circuit board as was Nagano. A 1.6GHz Atom-based board from Omron was on display too.

And that's not the only upcoming Intel chip that made an appearance. A board was shown with Intel's upcoming X4500 graphics silicon. The X4500 is slated to be part of the forthcoming GM45 ("Cantiga") chipset for the mobile Centrino 2 platform and the G45 ("Eaglelake-G") chipset for desktops.

SanDisk, Intel, TDK Launch Solid State Drives

If there was any doubt about the state of solid-state drives, Computex seems to be putting it to rest.

SanDisk, TDK, and Intel, among others, are announcing new solid-state drives while Asus is launching the Eee PC 1000 with a larger-capacity drive.

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are used increasingly instead of hard disk drives in small computers like the Asus Eee PC and devices like the Apple iPhone because SSDs use less power and are generally more rugged--due to the fact that they have no moving parts.

The Asus Eee PC 1000, for example, will be offered with SSDs up to 40GB in capacity, beating the 20GB SSD offered in the Eee PC 901.

With this market segment in mind, SanDisk introduced a line of solid-state drives that are designed for "netbooks"--a category of compact, low-cost notebook PCs best exemplified by the Eee PC.

The SanDisk "pSSD" (Parallel ATA solid state drive) is available in 4-, 8-, and 16-GB capacities. The device can achieve a "streaming read" speed of 39 megabytes per second and a streaming write (record) of 17MBps, according to SanDisk. These speeds compare favorably with the low-performance 1.8-inch hard disk drives used in small notebooks.

The pSSD solid-state drives are expected to be available starting in August when pricing will be announced.

TDK also launched new solid-state drives. The "HS1" series is a line of 1.8-inch solid-state drives with the Micro Serial-ATA (SATA) interface. The Micro SATA specification provides for a smaller connector for the high-speed SATA interface used widely in PCs today.

The HS1 series offers capacities of 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes, respectively. The product uses SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory. SLC-based solid-state drives are used widely, today but many SSD manufacturers are planning to move to more advanced multilevel cell (MLC) technology later this year.

Burst performance is 100MBps for reading data and 50MBps for writing data. These speeds compare favorably with 2.5-inch hard disk drives.

TDK's SSDs are now available for volume shipment at sample prices of about $1,900 for a 64GB model and about $1,400 for the 32GB model.

On Tuesday, Intel will introduce the Z-P230 Parallel ATA (PATA) series of solid-state drives. The Z-P230 "is a cost-effective storage solution designed to replace traditional hard disk drives in netbook and nettop systems, yet is four times smaller and lighter than a standard 1.8-inch hard disk drive," Intel said. The drives come in 4GB and 8GB capacities.

The Intel SSDs are being launched along with low-power Atom processors that include the N270 for netbooks and the 230 for low-cost desktops--what Intel calls nettops. The chips run at up to 1.6 GHz with an average power consumption of 2.5 watts.

Intel will also announce high-capacity solid-state drives in the second half of this year that have capacities of 80GB and 160GB.

Intel Debuts Atom Circuit Boards

Appropriately, a tiny Intel system board has debuted to match the tiny Atom processor. This could yield more portable desktop PC designs like the Eee Box.

The Intel-made motherboard is based on the Mini-ITX standard, which was originally developed by Via Technologies.

Diminutive desktops based on these motherboards can get as small as a typical notebook PC--a design small enough and light enough to be portable.

Intel is calling this category of desktops that sport an Atom 230 or N270 processor Nettops.

Nettops are designed for basic computing tasks like browsing the Web and sending e-mail and are generally cheap, usually less than $300. They typically offer more expansion options, more ports, and greater flexibility than Atom-based Netbooks, which are essentially small notebook PCs.

Intel Nettops contain tiny desktop motherboards.

Intel Unveils First Quad-Core Processor Based on Nehalem: Core i7

I don’t usually discuss PC, workstation, and server processors because I’m all about embedded processors these days. But Intel’s photo of the first Core i7 processor stopped me and I thought I’d write something. Here’s the photo:

The image shows four x86 processor cores arrayed across the top. Each core runs at 2.66 GHz (faster cores that exceed 3 GHz will appear in the future). Each of the four on-chip processor cores has its own 64-Kbyte L1 and 256-Kbyte L2 caches. The four on-chip processor cores share an on-chip, 8-Mbyte L3 cache and, of course, main memory external to the chip. An integrated, high-speed DDR3 memory controller links that off-chip main memory to the processor chip. In all, this is a very powerful machine.

Unfortunately, I get the impression from my many conversations with embedded systems designers that a lot of embedded designers think this is the right way to architect embedded systems. When they see three levels of on-chip cache used for this class of processor, they start to believe that all processors need caches—that cache memories are just part of the game now. What they forget or ignore is that processors in the same league with Intel’s Core i7 chip cost hundreds of dollars and dissipate many tens of Watts. This is a great league, but it’s not the embedded league.