Hardware finally prepped for Sony to make their next move?
Folks who have been eagerly awaiting news of a new or improved UX should perk their ears up to the following. Intel has refreshed and reorganized many of their current CPUs, in addition to lowering prices, and announcing new processors. The ones of main interest to the UMPC category is the introduction of the first Core 2 Solo CPU. These are two totally new processors from Intel (don’t get them mixed up with the current UX CPUs, the Core Solo) and come in 1.06GHz (U2100) and 1.2GHz (U2200) flavors.
I’m somewhat confused with the naming scheme of these new processors and the older ones. The original Core Solo (equipped in the current line of UX’s) is a Core Duo processor with a malfunctioning core that has been disabled to create the Core Solo, or in cases of high demand a fully functional Core Duo will have one of its cores disabled to be able to fill the demand for the chip. Now enter the Core 2 Solo. This is reportedly a one core chip, please correct me if I’m mistaken, but this is the first batch of chips to bear the Core 2 prefix and be single core. Now, what makes the two different is that the Core 2 Solo contains all the new technologies of the Core 2 Duo line, but from the information I’ve gathered, it is not a Core 2 Duo with a disabled core, it is its own totally unique chip specifically designed with low power consumption in mind. What is also interesting about this chip and it’s Core 2 insignia, is that it is a 64 bit processor, and any UMPC containing this CPU will be the first (I believe) 64 bit UMPC. The great thing about the Core 2 Solo is that speed will go up, while power consumption should stay the same, if not be lower than the Core Solo. The new Core 2 Solo includes “Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology” which will offer more robust options for turning down the power consumption level while running on batteries. Both solo core CPUs are rated with a TDP of 5.5W. More performance with the same amount of (or even less) power drain? Sign me up!
So Sony, what do you say? Many of us are eagerly anticipating the day when an updated or even brand new UX is announced. You’ve been so quiet lately, we can only hope you have something awesome up your sleeves, those OQO guys are right on your heels! You won’t make us wait all the way until CES will you?
5 Responses to “Hardware finally prepped for Sony to make their next move?”
- 1 Pingback on Oct 1st, 2007 at 8:36 am
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Good point about the first 64-bit UMPC! I don’t see these appearing in mainstream UMPCs but a new SOny UX with this processor and a slightly new design (larger 1024×600 screen, better keyboard) could get me VERY interested. I haven’t been a UX fan but a small change in design and this CPU could really sway me! I was a big fan of the i7210 with its docking station and a new Sony UX desktop-replacement UMPC would be fantastic.
Steve
Can you tell us if the Core 2 Solo has any new architecture features or instructions that make 3D graphics (i.e. games) with DirectX 10 run faster? Any multimedia (SIMD) type of instructions? any bus improvements for graphics and video operations?
Does DirectX 10 make use of the Core 2 features (to make vista areo run better?)
Inquiring minds want to know.
Well the general improvement in performance of the Core 2 Solo over the Core Solo should result in an overall better gaming experience just based on that fact that the Core 2 Solo should be able to perform operations more quickly. As for the gaming performance, most of that in regards to the UX was dictated by how much RAM was allocated to handle video processing, that amount was determined by how much total RAM the computer had among other things. So the UX’s with 1GB of RAM should have had 256MB of RAM dedicated to video processing purposes, while 512MB models had only 128MB. What I’m trying to get at is that you will see further improvements in video performance when looking at how much RAM the unit has as opposed to the CPU (in the case of the UX that is). Additionally I believe that new chipset technologies also play a role in how well the unit can process video.
It would be nice to see Sony implementing this new CPU, especially at the time when other competitors have made their moves (HTC Shift’s announcement, OQO’s upgrade, Fujitsu U with HSDPA, Samsung….etc). Its time for Sony to regain the lead among UMPCs.