Intel Spits Out the Notebook News: Mobile Quad Core, Calpella, WiMax Chips

Executive vice president and general manager of Intel Mobility Group Dadi Perlmutter took center stage at Intel’s Developer’s Forum this afternoon to present the notebook news we have all been waiting for. Introduced were lots of notebook innovations. Here are some of the highlights: Mobile Quad Core – Perlmutter revealed that high end notebooks with Centrino 2 can now support quad core computing. Some Intel quad core systems include the Lenovo W700. A demo was shown of a high definition video conference on a Quad Core notebook. It looked solid, but we will wait to put the systems to the test. Quad Core systems are currently in production and will be available within the month. See the pictures of Quad Core notebooks below. Switchable Graphics - He also touted Intel’s switchable graphics which can be found on notebooks like the Sony VAIO Z Series. This allows for toggling between discrete and integrated graphics. With the flick of a switch you can turn off the NVIDIA graphics functionality to save power and rely on the Intel chipset. Nehalem In Notebooks: Calpella - Perlmutter, didn’t share much on the next generation notebook chipset but he did say that Centrino 2 systems will “pale in comparison.” It will be capable of integrating with all notebook form factors, including quad core systems. He also discussed a feature of Nehalem called Turbo Boost that will allow for performance boost when applications need it, but also reduce power consumption. On-the-Go Security – Fujtisu and Lenovo are working on incorporating “on-the-go” anti-theft security that will allow for “killing” a computer if it is stolen or lost. We have heard this before, right? But this seems to be different with a more robust kill feature built into the Intel chipset. A stolen notebook with this feature will be able to be turned off completely or tracked via GPS. WiMax Chips Ready to Go – Again, we have heard this before, right? But this time Intel is promising that the WiMax chips will be embedded in notebooks by the end of the year. We will see notebooks with embedded WiMax from Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and others in 2009. Perlmutter closed with netbooks and mobile Internet devices. Not much new here, though he did show off a number of new MIDs and netbooks on stage. Keeping us wondering what is coming tomorrow, he showed the slide below. Is it a Classmate 3? Is it a new netbook prototype? Stay tuned. Updated: Our good buddy JKOnTheRun is setting the record straight. The mystery device is actually a Panasonic Medical tablet. Can’t blame us for thinking it was the Classmate 3 since we have heard that it will sport tablet functionality.