Forward-looking: On Thursday, Intel unveiled the “Engineered for Mobile Performance” sticker. This tag will be affixed to newer laptops that meet the stringent requirements for Intel’s innovation initiative code-named Project Athena. Next-generation ultra-slims with the mark will wake instantly, provide a full workday of battery life and more.
First introduced at CES 2019, Project Athena is Intel’s way of coaxing laptop manufacturers into innovating designs in six areas. To get the Athena seal, laptops must meet specific “key experience indicators” — instant action, performance and responsiveness, intelligence, battery life, connectivity, and form factor.
Intel says the first product to have the new “visual identifier” will be the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, which is available now in the United States. It adds that the HP Elitebook 1040 and HP Elitebook 830 have also met the requirements and will feature the seal in marketing materials in “the coming weeks.”
Along with Dell and HP offerings, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and Samsung are expected to have qualifying laptops during the 2019 holiday season as well.
In addition to having minimum hardware requirements, computers meeting the Athena criteria will have at least nine hours of battery life under “real-world performance conditions.” They should also last at least 16 hours while watching video (locally, not streaming).
Do not be mistaken. Intel’s effort is not just to encourage OEMs to improve laptop performance. The stickers will be a primary marketing tool at least trough 2020.
The effort is geared for the general “on-the-go” consumer who may not know or care about spec sheets and benchmarks. According to Intel, it gives them a quick and easy way to find laptops that are going to perform to a particular set of standards.
“Research suggests that consumers often rely on visual signals and retail displays to inform their buying decisions,” said Intel in its press release. “Testing of the identifier and its messaging showed that it grabbed people’s attention in stores and online and indicates how the laptops are the result of engineering collaborations specifically designed for on-the-go PC experiences.”
