Digital Home Thoughts: Intel Unveils Centrino 2 Platform

"For the first significant update to the Centrino name since it was launched in 2002, Intel really dropped the ball on actually putting substance behind today's announcement. The platform itself is what we've come to expect from Intel's mobile team, it looks to have all the right pieces and there's a good mix of innovation and steady evolution here - the problem is that we can't really even begin to test any of the interesting bits, there's hardly any hardware out there to test. We contacted HP, Dell, Gateway, ASUS and even Hypersonic (a division of OCZ) - not a single company could provide us with a Centrino 2 notebook for review. Intel blames the lack of available hardware on issues with the GM45 chipset as well as incomplete FCC certification on the new wireless adapters. Both issues have either been resolved or are in the process of being resolved, but they pushed the launch back by at least a month; Centrino 2 was supposed to debut in June."

This news came out last week, but I thought it was important enough to be worth posting on: Intel's first Centrino platform came at an ideal time, as the sales for laptops were exploding, and their branding campaign helped consumers solidify the concept of integrated wireless (and an Intel processor, naturally!). This time around, Intel has to content with AMD's Puma platform, and with the additional firepower of the ATI GPU in Puma, I'm not so sure Intel will have an easy time of it. Intel's lower-power CPUs will help them lock down most of the ultra-thin/light laptop designs though - AMD is lagging in this regard, not delivering on more power-friendly CPUs until the Shrike time frame (2009). Regardless of which platform you find more appealing, it's a great time to be a laptop-buying consumer with both Centrino 2 and Puma-based designs hitting the market over the next few months.