Intel Demonstrates the Mobile P4, Pitches Wireless, Promises the Moon

It was only about a month ago that we saw the Mobile P3 at a demo in San Francisco and yesterday, at IDF, we saw Intel show off the new Mobile P4. Intel is really pushing for domination on all fronts, but especially in the area of mobile processors and devices. Aside from being a faster processor, the pitch was pretty much the same for the P4 as it was when we saw the P3: reduce power consumption (with SpeedStep) and free users from cables. Along with showcasing some pretty nifty (and small) gadgets from laptops to tablets, the company announced a new program that it says will enable the delivery of new and wondrous wireless devices and applications. Along with Enhanced SpeedStep, the new mobile P4 sports a feature called Deeper Sleep to achieve even lower power states, along with small mobile packaging for thinner, lighter mobile PCs.

At the presentation, Intel talked about the preliminary 3GIO spec, demonstrated new USB 2.0 products, and announced the release of the Serial ATA final 1.0 specification. Compaq, Dell, IBM, Intel and Microsoft, along with another 22 newly announced developers, say they will deliver a draft of version 1.0 of the 3GIO specification to the PCI -SIG in Q1 2002. The final Serial ATA 1.0 specification is supposed to replace the parallel ATA physical storage interface and can be used to connect internal storage devices like hard disks, DVDs, and CD-R/Ws to the motherboard in desktop and mobile PCs. The biggest deal about Serial ATA 1.0 is that it provides scalable performance (starting at 1.5 gigabits per second) while remaining compatible with current operating systems.

Intel also made noise about being heavy into wireless, saying it is working toward devices that provide fancy apps like voice-and-data communications over the Internet. They've also introduced a new program designed to help developers build wireless applications, services and devices based on the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA). The newly formed Intel PCA Developer Network offers wireless companies development, technical and marketing support for building cell phones, PDAs and other mobile Internet devices and applications supporting Intel PCA. All in all, the presentation provided a head full of stuff to think about, most of it involving Intel's view of the future, but IDF is, after all, their party. It will be interesting to see how, if, and when all of these crystal ball visions will come to pass.