Intel's Oak Trail platform enters production, ARM not worried

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

According to a new report by DigiTimes, Intel's upcoming Oak Trail platform is right on track for an early 2011 launch with mass production already underway. Oak Trail's Atom Z6XX series system-on-a-chip (codenamed Lincroft) is designed for lightweight portable computing devices such as tablets, and with dozens of manufacturers looking to enter the slate business next year, Intel's new platform is in a prime position to bag some design wins.

Lincroft incorporates an Atom processor core, an Intel GMA 600 graphics core, as well as a 32-bit LPDDR1/DDR2 memory controller and video encoder/decoder. That's paired with an SM35 IO hub (also known as Whitney Point), and according to DigiTimes' sources, Intel plans to sell the duo with its Linux-based MeeGo operating system for only $25. That's pretty dang cheap, and Intel could find itself in a comfortable position next to ARM.


Naturally, that price increases if you factor in the cost of Windows, which most consumers are familiar with and would undoubtedly prefer over MeeGo. Meanwhile, Intel claims that Oak Trail consumes up to 50% less power on average and can handle full HD video, but ARM president Tudor Brown isn't sweating the competition. "ARM-designed processors are still expected to remain the dominant technology for tablet PCs," Brown said.

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$25 Buck!! Some company will try this due to the low price. but i dont know ARM based systems so I dont really know a lot about it, but What about "Zacate" or however AMD call their new mobile chip, Will AMD be out of the cake in this one?...
 
I don't see why people would want Windows just because they have an intel. If MeeGo has a solid design for the intended formfactor and applications ready by real product launch... I think it will not have any trouble in the market.

It does need to have a solid UI, good interface with a desktop computer for transfering media etc. Read/display media common including document files. And I think it could get just as interesting and carve out a place for itself where Android has on ARM.

I figure the $25 is for lots of what 1000? It still could open up the game for DYIs and maybe for people wanting to prototype their own tablets. I would love be a part of the groups of hobysts and electrical engineers DYI'ing and showing the big manufactures what the consumers want. The moble phone companies are really wrecking things when it comes to clean devices. I also think there are some price plays going on. But only time will tell.
 
err... err... $25? but... but a 1ghz Cortex A8 ARM CPU in mass-volume can be had for $14, and there are Dual-Core 750mhz MIPS processors coming out, with 3D OpenGL and 1080p video for around the $10 mark. these CPUs are totally integrated with DDR2 RAM as the only real complex bit of design work required: everything else is balanced lines (USB2, SATA, Ethernet) or is very low-speed (i2C, AC97 audio) - so the reason why ARM aren't fussed is because a) the power consumption on 45nm CPUs at 1.5ghz is still under 1 watt b) the price is WAY below $25 c) GlobalFoundries proved that 28nm is viable which will take the Cortex A9 and A15 well into the 2ghz range and still keep below 1 watt... for the entire CPU running flat-out! it's only people desperate to cling to windows who will put up with the extra cost.
 
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