Intel goes live with Centrino 2

Intel's Centrino 2 platform will ship from today

Intel has officially launched the Centrino 2 platform, and is splitting it into a straight consumer offering and a business platform running vPro systems management technology.

The new platform will ship from today, the fifth anniversary of the original Centrino launch, with a 45nm Penryn Core 2 Duo processor running from 2.26GHz to 3.06GHz, with 6MB L2 cache and a 1066MHz front side bus.

The Penryn Core 2 Duo is coupled with 802.11n Wi-Fi and an integrated graphics chipset.

The wireless component will be augmented later this year with built-in WiMax, but Intel claims that the current 802.11n antenna can manage 450Mbps data rates.

Intel also intends to bring out a four-core processor for the platform later this year.

The company claims that the new platform will offer 23 per cent better performance for 23 per cent less power, and will show graphics speed enhancements of up to 70 per cent.

Battery power has been a key focus of the new platform, according to Mooly Eden vice president of mobile platforms at Intel.

"It is all about HUGI (Hurry Up and Get Idle). The optimal condition for a processor is like the optimum condition for my wife - in sleep mode," he said.

"You are using the minimum amount of power. But when a task comes along you need to wake up the processor, get the job done as quickly as possible and then get back to sleep."

Intel is targeting the Centrino 2 with vPro technology at business users. This allows system administrators remote access to laptops via wireless even if the laptop is in sleep mode.

The consumer and enterprise offerings will have full support for dual channel DDR3 memory and Blu-ray.

Eden said that the platform would support two hours of high-definition film viewing from a single battery charge.

However, the chipset will also support dynamic switching between the integrated graphics package and a standalone graphics card to save battery life. ATI is already producing cards for the platform and nVidia will follow shortly.

All major systems builders have produced Cetnrino 2 laptops for the launch, ranging from a Sony ultra-portable to heavy gaming machines from Acer and Asus. Only Apple was not represented.