While Intel Corp and its computer partners were hoping to make a big splash by unveiling the latest Centrino platform yesterday, industry watchers predicted that the consumer reaction could be lukewarm.
Intel yesterday launched Santa Rosa, the latest update of its Centrino mobile platform.
At the heart of Santa Rosa are a processor, a chipset and a wireless combination.
PHOTO: CHUO YI-CHUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Business notebooks built on the latest platform will be branded Centrino Pro, while consumer machines will carry the existing Centrino Duo label.
Santa Rosa comes with an improved chipset and Intel Turbo Memory, formerly known as Robson. Intel Turbo Memory is flash memory built into a notebook computer that helps the system save power by accommodating a new hibernation mode.
"The new platform will offer faster computer turn-on time and speed, better wireless capabilities and enhanced security," Jason Chen (
Local hardware vendors demonstrated their support for the new platform, hoping that the new system will boost their computers' average retail prices.
"This platform gives users better performance and wireless connectivity," said Scott Lin (
He said that notebooks based on Santa Rosa would account for 70 percent of the company's laptop shipments in the fourth quarter, up from 20 percent from the current quarter.
Compal Electronics Inc (
The maker started to churn out Santa Rosa notebooks last month for its brand clients, and expects 70 percent of its production volumes will run on the new system in the final quarter, Compal president and chief executive Ray Chen (
Despite the excitement, industry watchers said consumers might not buy into the idea as fast as vendors would like.
"Only some tech pioneers will rush to buy these new laptops. General uptake will be unsatisfactory considering the price factor," said Simon Yang (
Santa Rosa machines will carry a price tag of at least US$300 more than the earlier Napa-based notebooks, he said.
"Even if Intel cuts prices in the upcoming months, Santa Rosa will only take up 30 percent of global notebook sales by year's end," he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day