Intel has introduced a new series of laptops at Computex 2007 in Taipei. The Intel 3 Series chipset family was introduced in the company's keynote speech by Intel executive Sean Mahoney. He also announced several other technology advances around the company's Core 2 Duo and Quad processors.
Mahoney said the new chipsets (formerly known as Bearlake in Intel-speak) were intended to be used with Intel's upcoming Penryn family of chips based on the new 45nm process technology. He also announced that manufacturers were already working on 100 new motherboard designs featuring the new chipset.
Mahoney expects the new chipset family to be the fastest growing in Intel's history.
"There is a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation for our forthcoming 45nm Hi-K processors based on the Intel Core microarchitecture," Maloney said. "The Intel 3 Series chipsets lay the foundation for an exciting, media-rich experience for today's systems and those that arrive later this year."
Extreme Edition brand extended
Mahoney also disclosed that Intel is working on a Core 2 Extreme mobile platform which will be released in the third quarter of 2007. The plan, he said, is to extend the company's Extreme Edition brand introduced for desktop PCs in 2003.
The upcoming chip is intended to be the company's highest-performing mobile dual-core processor that - somewhat crucially - still includes energy-saving power features for notebook-friendly designs.
The Intel 3 Series Chipsets support DDR2 up to 800MHz, or DDR3 memory with data transfer speeds up to 1333 MHz. It's also engineered to support Intel Turbo Memory which enables faster boot times.
There are versions with integrated graphics called the G33 (already shipping) and G35 Express Chipsets as well. These products include Intel's Clear Video Technology which supports the High Definition Media Interface (HDMI) and HD disc playback. The G35 also includes hardware support for Windows Vista's graphics engine DirectX 10.
Intel says the G35 chipset will be shipping within 90 days, as will its new X38 enthusiast chipset with dual graphics support.
