The death of the Silverthorne-based MID is highly exaggerated
I’m almost at a loss for words, which for a daily writer is a rarity. I was reading a most informative article about Intel’s Silverthorne CPU over at Ars Technica and things were going along swimmingly. I learned more about the chip architecture, the fact that it’s 64-bit, and it will have a new low-power sleep state called C6. All good stuff. And then I got to the end, which is apparently a conclusion based on hands-on time with some prototype MIDs using the Silverthorne chip:
“Ultimately, Silverthorne could be compelling for the Asus Eee PC form factor, and at 2GHz there’s an outside possibility that it might find a home in a MacBook Air that’s relatively underpowered, but has great battery life. But the MID form factor, at least in its Silverthorne combination, is dead on arrival. So Silverthorne is just the start of something, and to ARM, MIPS, and the other established chipmakers who currently own the embedded space, it’s Intel’s way of saying “game on.” (emphasis mine)
So that’s it then? The promise of Menlow devices was all a pipe dream? Perhaps these lower powered chips won’t well handle a size-XXL operating system like Microsoft Windows Vista (or maybe they will), but to summarily dismiss them based on a prototype is just senseless to me. The main reason I haven’t replaced my Samsung Q1P UMPC is because I haven’t seen any truly compelling devices that can replace it for my needs and requirements. I thought that a Menlow device, especially one running a “lighter” OS could change that, but if Ars is to be believed, I’ve apparently wasted my time waiting for nothing. Somehow, I think not. Agree, disagree or (more likely) too soon to tell?
As he said:
“Having tried a few of Intel’s Silverthorne-based prototypes, I must say that I wasn’t particularly impressed. I own a Nokia N800 and an iPhone, both of which are ARM-based and both of which give a nearly complete Internet experience in a smaller form factor than Silverthorne will ever fit into. Indeed, at one point during a sit-down with Intel the rep told me that the warm, bulky prototype I was holding would give me the “full Internet in your pocket.” I started chuckling, pulled out my iPhone, and said, “I already have that.” He gamely responded that the iPhone’s browser doesn’t support Flash (in my opinion that’s a feature, not a bug), but my point was made. “
It’s easy to see he is in “arm camp”
For me iphone/touch and n810 are not full internet/computers in my pocket…
If you are looking for something smaller than current UMPCs, menlow will deliver.
If you are happy with iphone/touch or n810, you don’t need menlow.
You know what would be nice? An HTC Advantage-sized device running on Silverthorne with a slimmed down XP install with the GUI tweaked to be pixel-efficient, with a 16GB or better flash drive.
If Microsoft were smart they’d make XP the new windows mobile and market vista as a desktop OS.
Whether he is in the “ARM camp” or not, he has a point. The Menlow, so far, does not confer an advantage over existing devices regardless of what processor they are based on. Also, he’s just responding to Intel’s pitch. Intel has aimed Menlow at the same niche as the iPod touch and the Nokia N800. It shouldn’t be surprising then that those are the devices he compares Menlow-based devices against.
If Intel had aimed Menlow at, say, the OQO Model 02, the comparison would be different. I suspect Menlow-based devices will be approximately the same size as an OQO Model 02, and about as warm. (Based on the details in the Ars Technica article, Silverthorne doesn’t seem intended to deliver mainstream performance. However, neither does the VIA C7-M ULV that OQO uses.)
The hype surrounding Silverthorne always seemed a little missplaced in my view. More processing power from a lower powered processor was never going to remedy my next-gen UMPC experience. Like JK I adopted a Q1, and as I see it, only 3 things will provide me an upgrade from where I am now. First up, battery life – ppl seem to think that this is linked to a lower powered chip but I think its more to do with a rethink about how the machine is put together. Only the EEE Pc and OLPC have really challenged conventional wisdom on how a portable PC is put together. Second, weight – holding 1kg in your hand for more than an hour is not easy. If a desk is a pre-requisite then there seems little point in not getting an Eee Pc, vaio tx or Macbook Air and being done with it. I will keep banging this drum until the cows come home – sub 500g is a requirement to making the UMPC concept viable. Finally, the issue that dare not speak its name – i.e. storage. When I say storage to most UMPC users – they all longingly think SSD but, no. We are all still spinning – power intensive SATA laptop HDD’s. Not one manufacturer has gone the split disk route and given us a little SSD just for the OS. Or affordable on a 32GB disk. Two tangential issues which I would like resolved with UMPC’s would be a touch-specific OS and a cheaper price. But amongst the users I know, these three would improve our quality of life immeasurably.
JC, sounds like you need an Everun. It meets all your 3 things. Better battery life – check. Weight of 500g – check. Storage split between SSD and HD – check.
Sorry, my previous post was in reply to Corrupted Mind, not JC.
You’d have to be an ARM fanboy to dismiss Silverthorne, really. There’s quite a bit that you can do with ARM, of course, but there’s also quite a bit that just isn’t compiled for it. Once you’ve got an x86 CPU in your device, it’s only a matter of time until Windows follows, dragging piles and piles of applications with it.
Apple, of course, doesn’t seem to care much either way, but they’re still making it easy to install Windows on their computers. I can think of enough apps that require Windows to justify a Windows-based UMPC. I *could* get most things done under Linux on x86, of course, but I’d miss a few bits and pieces. Once I move to Linux on ARM, however, everything starts to fall to pieces. Some software hasn’t been ported, some just won’t compile, and many ARM-based units use custom interfaces that make it impossible to cross-compile.
Silverthorne’s a big deal because it’s going to stretch out that power budget while still allowing an overall shrinkage in UMPC hardware design. Of course, I won’t be happy until we get something with the OQO’s graphics scaling/keyboard, the N810’s size/weight/thickness, and the Everun’s battery life. If they can toss in a biometric scanner, GPS, and an SDHC slot, even better.