ARM

10 Things You Need To Know About Intel’s New Atom

Gordon Mah Ung — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:57:42 +0000

How Intel's new Atom CPUs may be a game changer

10. It won’t suck.

Atom parts have long been the butt of our jokes for being the anti-performance parts that inspired the Netbook but anyone who ever tried to drive a Netbook for anything beyond browsing knows how much Atom’s sucked in performance. A dual-core, Hyper-Threaded 1.6Ghz Atom N2600 gives up a Cinebench 11.5 score of 0.47. That’s just barely faster than a single-core Athlon 64 3200’s score of 0.42. For reference, a Core i7-2600K gives up about 8.1 and a 3.2GHz Core 2 Duo E8200 gives you about 1.91. The actual performance isn’t known, but the new “Silvermont” version of Atom should offer far more performance than we've ever seen before.

Meet the new Intel Atom family

9. No more process sloppy seconds

Atom has long been the bottom bin of Intel CPUs. It didn’t get access to the latest process technologies and while Core 2 and Core i7 have been on a “tick tock” strategy where two new designs are produced on each process, Atom has plowed along with a one “new” design for each process. With Silvermont, the chip gets moved to the latest 22nm process 3D transistors. Even better for Atom will be the next-generation. With the introduction of the 14nm process, Intel will introduce a “tick” Airmont and then a “tock” chip that doesn’t even have a codename yet. This is just another sign of just how important Intel sees Atom to its future.

Intel Atom core block diagram

8. Silvermont probably won’t bring back Netbooks.

The Netbook was the hottest piece of tech that was introduced at the right time. Who didn’t want a $300 mini-notebook when the entire financial world was collapsing? Unfortunately most users who bought them quickly became disenfranchised with the performance of the Netbook. In fact, Netbook sales numbers look like a failed rocket launch. Netbook sales peaked in 2010 with 32 million Netbooks sold, according to IHS. This year, 3.97 million Netbooks will sell with IHS predicting just 264,000 Netbooks will sell next year before Netbooks go extinct by 2015. Many blame the death of the Netbook on the iPad and other ARM-based tablets but we like to blame Atom. If Netbooks had had decent performance from day one, they might not have cratered so badly. Even with Silvermont and say, Core i7-lite performance, will OEMs try Netbooks again or have they had enough? We think OEMs have moved beyond the Netbook which is a bit of a shame because if they had decent performance years ago, maybe they wouldn’t be the Dodo bird of PCs.

Silvermont's wide range of operation

7. Think of it as Atom i7 or Atom 2 Quad

Silvermont will be built around a modular design. Each module will feature two cores and Intel can stitch together up to eight cores on a die. Unlike AMD’s modular design that shares chip resources, Silvermont’s cores are separate cores that only share a common L2 cache. All previous Atom chips have continued to use the ancient front side bus to connect the chips but Silvermont will feature a point-to-point interface connecting to a system agent which will hook into the memory controller. Also important in Silvermont is the move from the in-order design of all previous Atoms to an out-of-order design. Out-of-order designs allow instructions to be executed out of order to greatly increase performance over in-order designs. For perspective, out-of-order CPU designs have been used by Intel since the Pentium Pro chip. Most ARM-based CPUs have also been in order up until the Cortex A9 chips.

The main penalty to out-of-order designs has been an increase in power consumption and die space which is why Intel turned to an in-order design for the original Bonnell-based Atoms in 2008. Intel says with its advanced 22nm process, it can now do an out-of-order design while keeping power consumption and die space to a minimum. Intel has also completely redesign Silvermont with larger branch predictors, improved decoders, redesigned execution units, larger L2 and reduced L2 cache latency. In a nutshell, performance of Silvermont will be a factor of 3x over the current fastest Atom’s with 5x lower power consumption.

Oh yeah, Silvertmont also gets SSE3.1, SSE4.2, hardware AES-NI encyprtion, hardware random number generation and several other instructions from the Westmere generation of CPUs.

6. Atom now gets Turbo too.

Intel’s popular and effective Turbo Boost makes an appearance in Silvermont which can now “burst” different cores up depending on the load. Intel says Atom also has the ability to run cores at different speeds as well. The company has previously pooh-poohed such an approach and still says it's more efficient to run all cores at the same speed when needed, but certain server, notebook, tablet and phone makers may want to intentionally run cores at asymmetric speeds to reduce power consumption sometimes.

Intel Atom Power Sharing

Click the next page to read about how it's faster and more efficient than ARM

5. Yup. From servers to phones

Silvertmont will go into micro-servers and scale down to phone iterations after introduced. And no, you aren’t likely to get a tablet or phone with an 8-core Silverton variant. Those are likely aimed at micro-servers which aren’t as power sensitive as a phone or tablet.

Intel Atom in tablets

4. No damnit, it’s not ARM

Analysts and self-appointed Internet experts have long speculated that Intel needs an ARM chip to compete with ARM because x86 can’t "get er done." For what it’s worth, Intel had an entire ARM division when DEC sold it the StrongARM family which turned into XScale. Intel sold XScale to Marvell in 2006 and apparently still has no regrets about it. Silvermont is pure x86.

Intel Atom workflow

3. Faster and more efficient—than ARM

The battle of the last three years has clearly not been Intel vs. AMD, but x86 vs ARM. ARMchair commandos have long said x86 can’t compete because it’s just too power hungry. But remember, ARM is no brainiac chip. Even the super weak sauce old iterations of Atom have been performance and on power parity with ARM chips (non-believers see here). Intel says Silvermont will easily stomp all ARM chips into the dirt. While, Intel didn’t actually directly say the ARM word during press briefings but you don’t have to be Steven Hawking to guess what CPU architecture Intel is comparing Silverton to. Even with the power consumption of ARM chips far exceeding Silvermont, those CPUs still can’t match Silvermont’s performance. Up against four competing ARM chips, Intel says at the same power use, Silvermont will be from 1.6 times to 2.3 times faster and consume from 3 to 5.8 times less power.

2. But the competition has eight cores.

Intel’s arrogance is pretty well known. But the truth is you can’t be arrogant if your products suck. That gloat has been fading of late but during our media briefings with Intel engineers, we could see the spring in their PowerPoint decks. We know, the proof is in the pudding, but Intel says Silvermont’s better cores out-perform competing ARM CPUs that use inefficient quad-cores. And yeah, that thing where they have eight cores? Remember four of the cores are low power cores that take over when the high performance cores aren’t needed. Intel says it's long explored such little core, big core approach and it’s never been optimal.

Intel Atom's cores

1. Intel’s war begins with Silvermont

When did the x86 vs. ARM war begin? That’s hard to say. Some say 2010, others say 2011 or even 2012. We’d say that when the war began didn’t really matter. What matters is how each side reacts. Intel has long been a dangerous dragon tends to slumber when not challenged. Need proof? Go and Bing Pentium 4 or Intel’s lack of interest at the high-end desktop game today. So does anyone want to piss that dragon off? ARM does. Over the last few years it and a merry band of dwarves have walked into the slumbering dragon’s cave, stuck a short sword in its side and threatened the dragon’s hoard of gold. Silvermont—if Intel’s claims are true—could very well indicate that someone’s going to get roasted.

Intel Plans to Push Atom Prices Down Further to Compete With Arm

Justin Kerr — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:46:08 +0000

Intel refuses to surrender the lower-end of the market.

Years ago AMD was putting pressure on Intel to continue innovating on the high end, but fast forwarded to 2013 and Intel is the last man standing. The new war is in ultra-low powered chips, and the company is years behind. Intel’s response to ARM was the ATOM series of processors, but they were stuck trying to power a heavy and bloated Microsoft OS, while ARM had custom designed operating systems that extended battery life, and created an entirely new market. This year the two companies are destined to meet in the middle, and it will be a pivotal moment in the history of computing. Intel has announced its plans to compete with the current crop of dirt cheap ARM based devices, and to the winner goes the spoils.

Intel’s decision to take on the low end market isn’t without precedent, but it’s also a moving target. The price point for computing has been falling faster than industry costs, and now the company finds itself scrapping with the competition for a low margin market they aren’t even sure they want. Outgoing CEO Paul Otellini understands the value of winning against ARM, but it remains to be seen if his successor shares his passion.

Microsoft announced last Thursday that small inexpensive form factor PC’s are part of its strategy, so it's likely Intel is just embracing the ever shifting winds of technological change. "We are...working closely with [PC makers] on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows. These devices will have competitive price points, partly enabled by our latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices, and will be available in the coming months," Microsoft's chief financial officer, Peter Klein, said during the company's earnings call.

Either way it sounds like $200 Android powered Intel tablets are a strong possibility this year, with $250/$300 Windows 8 based versions not far behind. Will they be a fad like Netbooks? Or are these the devices everyone has been waiting for?

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Samsung Chromebook Review

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:10:22 +0000

ARM isn’t always slower than x86

It’s hard to believe that the Chromebook is still with us. If you recall, Chromebooks were birthed in a tumultuous time for the world. The country was in the midst of economic collapse and craptastic netbooks were the cheap hotness.

Today, netbooks are so worthless, some companies have resorted to giving them away with the purchase of an Ultrabook. Yet Google and its Chromebook science experiment is still kicking along. As they were at inception, Chromebooks remain low-end hardware coupled with an OS built almost entirely around the Chrome browser and are really best suited for those who live the Google lifestyle.

One of the best Chromebooks out there.

The latest iteration is the Samsung Chromebook Model No. XE303C12. It’s actually the third Samsung Chromebook. We reviewed the company’s first effort, the Chromebook Series 5, which sported a dual-core 1.66GHz Atom N5770, and found it wanting. Though not entirely the fault of the weak Atom chip, the Chrome OS was simply too limited in offline functionality and even many online functions didn’t quite work right when it was connected.

Samsung’s latest Chromebook is markedly different from the Series 5. The most noticeable change is the use of Samsung’s own 1.7GHz Exynos 5 CPU. This SoC CPU is based on the Cortex A15 and is an out-of-order design rather than the typical ARM design, which uses the slower-but-power-sipping in-order execution. To see how this ARM chip stacks up, we compared it to the Series 5 using the Atom N570 as well as the original Google CR-48 concept Chromebook running an Atom N455. The winner? Surprise, x86—the Samsung ARM chip slaps around both Atom CPUs like the Hulk smashing bad guys. Before ARM aficionados declare complete victory, we will note that we suspect the pricier Celeron-based Chromebook would eat the Exynos in one bite. Those Chromebooks are hardly cheap, though. Of course, the real problem is that discussing performance on a Chromebook is mostly academic. You don’t need much power to run a browser. Even the ancient single-core CR-48 is still quite usable.

It’s more about the presentation and the pricing. In presentation, Samsung does a relatively good job, though the easily scratched plastic shell doesn’t exude quality. The new Chromebook is Ultrabook-thin, weighs 2.5 pounds, and its 11.6-inch screen sports 1366x768 resolution—which is slightly higher than the Series 5 Chromebook. The big breakthrough for the Chromebook is its price. At $250, the Chromebook is almost a compelling mobile device.

We say almost because no matter what, Chromebook’s will always be limited compared to a PC or even a tablet. While the much lower price of the new Chromebook makes it pretty attractive, tablets and even convertible PC’s have been moving in price, too. When a quad-core tablet or a full-blown Windows 8 tablet can be had for $200–$500, the Chromebook is still only suited for those who can work around its limitation of requiring the Internet for full productivity.

$250, www.samsung.com

BlueStacks Android App Player Now Compatible with Windows 8

Pulkit Chandna — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:55:14 +0000

BlueStacks wants you to get your Android apps back on Windows 8

At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, Android virtualization startup BlueStacks announced that its “App Player” software, which lets people enjoy Android apps on their PCs, was coming to Microsoft’s latest desktop operating system. It promptly delivered on that promise earlier this week when it released a new version of its free-to-download tool.

Announcing Windows 8 compatibility, BlueStacks said that the latest version of its App Player software “fills the widening Windows 8 app gap”, thereby allowing users to make the most of their Windows 8 devices. The software, which the company claims has passed the 5 million download mark across Mac and PC (OEM installations not included), does this by enabling access to hundreds of thousands of Android apps on Windows 8 devices like the recently released Microsoft Surface Pro.

The integration is rather seamless, with the Android apps you download appearing as tiles on the Windows 8 start screen. The App Player itself is available for download from the newly launched site GetYourAppsBack.com.

“We’ve had our users asking for a Win8 version for a long time,” said BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma said in a press release Tuesday. “Now that it’s finally available on our website we’re looking forward to getting feedback and building on the experience. The number of mobile apps being written overall is expanding exponentially and Microsoft has not added apps to the handful it has. Our goal is to get people more value out of their Surface Pro and Win8 devices.”

Lenovo Might Launch Intel or ARM-based Android Convertible

Paul Lilly — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:23:27 +0000

The IdeaPad Yoga 11S won't be the only new hybrid laptop from Lenovo.

Lenovo recently showed the hybrid notebook category a little love with the introduction of its ThinkPad Helix Ultrabook for enterprise clients and IdeaPad Yoga 11S Ultrabook for consumers. Both products tow the Microsoft line with Windows 8 serving as the centerpiece, but might we see a convertible laptop from Lenovo running Android instead? There's a good possibility, based on the latest chatter around the web.

Citing "industry sources," DigiTimes says Lenovo is planning to launch an Android tablet/notebook hybrid powered by either an Intel or ARM processor.. The targeted time frame is the first half of 2013.

At least one of the sources indicated that Intel and Lenovo are working together to roll out Android tablets. Nothing has been confirmed, but it's known that Lenovo previously wanted to release a Medfield-based tablet running Android in the third quarter of 2012. Lenovo delayed its plans so as not to be overshadowed by the 4th generation iPad, iPad mini, and influx of Windows 8/RT tablets, in addition to lower cost Android slates.

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Mionix Feeds New Naos 8200 Gaming Mouse a 32-bit ARM Chip

Paul Lilly — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:09:52 +0000

I'm a little surprised that Mionix doesn't have a Wikipedia page. The Swedish maker of gaming peripheral devices has been around for half a decade, and I had been happily using the company's Naos 5000 mouse until my Schipperke chewed it up. It was the company's top of the line rodent until today, replaced by the Naos 8200 gaming mouse with a 32-bit ARM processor and 8200 DPI laser sensor.

Note that I haven't played with the Naos 8200 in person, but according to Mionix, the new rodent sports a "truly ergonomic design" with support for all five fingers. From a comfort standpoint, it features five layers of rubber coating, which also helps with grip.

The 32-bit ARM chip is clocked at 72MHz and powers the high DPI sensor. There's also 128kb of built-in memory to store custom settings and recorded macros, up to five profiles in all. There's a customized LED lighting system, in-game 3-step DPI adjustment, 7 fully programmable buttons, 1,000Hz polling rate, 1ms response time, and a Surface Quality Analyzer Tool. (S.Q.A.T.) that measures the tracking quality of your gaming surface.

Mionix says the Naos 8200 is available to pre-order now ($90) and will ship in December.

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AMD Flexes ARM License for Upcoming Opteron Processors

Paul Lilly — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:50:40 +0000

After years of designing chips exclusively around x86 architecture, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is now waving around an ARM license that it intends to use to build 64-bit ARM-based processors for the server market, the Sunnyvale chip designer announced. The first of these will be 64-bit multi-core System-on-a-Chip (SoC) parts optimized for energy efficient servers found in large data centers.

"AMD led the data center transition to mainstream 64-bit computing with AMD64, and with our ambidextrous strategy we will again lead the next major industry inflection point by driving the widespread adoption of energy-efficient 64-bit server processors based on both the x86 and ARM architectures," said Rory Read, president and chief executive officer, AMD. “Through our collaboration with ARM, we are building on AMD’s rich IP portfolio, including our deep 64-bit processor knowledge and industry-leading AMD SeaMicro Freedom supercompute fabric, to offer the most flexible and complete processing solutions for the modern data center.

This collaboration will make AMD the only one offering both x86 and 64-bit ARM-based solutions. It's a bold move, and one that AMD hopes will give it a leg up on Intel in the server space. As part of its partnership with ARM, AMD intends to weave upcoming ARM-based Opteron chips with its Freedom Fabric interconnect technology that it acquired when it purchased SeaMicro for $334 million earlier this year.

The first ARM-based Opteron chips for servers are expected to debut sometime in 2014. AMD said it will continue to design x86 CPUs and APUs for client and server markets.

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Microsoft Letting Customers Reserve Surface RT Tablets for Launch Day Purchase

Pulkit Chandna — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 21:02:28 +0000

If you are itching to get your hands on a Microsoft Surface RT tablet, chances are that your itch will remain unscratched for quite some time, as the device is now backordered for three weeks. So your best bet now, should you want it earlier, is to walk into a Microsoft retail outlet on or after October 26 and pick one up yourself (if you can). For those who don’t want to leave anything to chance, Microsoft is giving out special "Surface reservation passes."

Microsoft is currently distributing reservation passes that promise to make available to the bearer one Surface RT tablet on a priority basis. However, they will have to purchase the tablet from the Microsoft store named on the card before 12pm on October 26, 2012. WPCentral was the first to report on these passes, having received a tip by one of its forum members. Microsoft has since issued a statement confirming the existence of a limited number of such reservation passes.

“The reservation card guarantees that if a customer visits a Microsoft retail store or holiday store by 12:00 p.m. on 10/26 they will be able to purchase a Surface,” the company said in its statement. “The customer must present the reservation card at time of purchase on 10/26.”

“Regardless of online availability, beginning Oct. 26, 2012, all three Surface SKUs will be available for purchase at all Microsoft Store locations in the United States and Canada, including in all 34 new holiday stores.”

First Microsoft sold out of Surface RT pre-orders within 24 hours, and now it’s giving out reservation passes. While on the face of it initial demand for the ARM-based Surface RT seems to be very strong, it could just as well be a classic case of middling demand outstripping limited supply.

Dell Unleashes Trio of XPS Windows 8 Devices

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 05:54:45 +0000

The second day of the ongoing Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) trade show in Berlin once again belonged to Windows 8. Among the Windows 8 devices showcased on Thursday was a disparate trio of Dell XPS PCs: the Dell XPS 10 Windows RT tablet, the XPS Duo 12 convertible Ultrabook, and the XPS One 27 all-in-one PC.

Dell XPS 10: Recently, Dell was named by Microsoft as one of its few Windows RT launch partners but no device was revealed. If you’ve been wondering what Dell’s maiden Windows RT device is going to look like, the answer is now here in the form of the ARM-based Dell XPS 10, about which we know very little apart from the fact that it has a 10-inch display, long battery life, and a mobile keyboard dock.

XPS Duo 12: If you’ve seen the Dell Inspiron Duo netbook, which was launched in late 2010, then you know where the inspiration for the Duo 12 convertible ultrabook came from. The XPS Duo 12 is equipped with a 12.5-inch full HD display. Thanks to its “flip hinge” design, folding the Duo 12’s Corning Gorilla Glass-covered display over its keyboard gives you a Windows 8 tablet.

XPS One 27: Like the other two XPS devices unveiled today, the XPS One 27 too is a touchscreen device, albeit a considerably bigger one. Its 27-inch Wide Quad HD Display (2560x1440) is said to deliver “twice the pixel density of any other 27-inch AIO PC.”

“The Dell XPS 10, XPS Duo 12 and XPS One 27 will be available for sale when Windows 8 is available at the end of October,” Dell stated in a press release. “More details on pricing will be announced when available.”

Dell, Samsung and Lenovo Confirmed as Windows RT OEM Partners

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 03:04:30 +0000

We already know that the Windows RT version of Microsoft’s Surface tablet will make its retail debut on October 26, the same day as Windows 8’s global release, but surprisingly not a lot is known about third-party devices running the ARM-friendly flavor of Windows at this stage, with the Asus Tablet 600 being about the only confirmed third-party Windows RT device as of now. Now, Microsoft is requesting just a bit more patience from those currently holding their breath, as other vendors are expected to unveil their Windows RT offerings very soon.

Confirming ARM-based Windows RT PCs from Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung in a blog post on the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft said that details about these upcoming tablets would be trickling out into the open before the launch of Windows 8 in late October. This is in line with a recent rumor which claimed that the Windows RT tablet market would initially be restricted to only a handful of top-tier PC vendors.

The recent unveiling of the Surface may not have gone down too well with PC vendors, who are understandably none too pleased at the prospect of having to partner and compete with Microsoft at the same time, but the Redmond-based technology behemoth describes its engineering collaboration with PC vendors on these Windows RT devices as being “strong.”

“Windows RT represents a significant re-imagining of not only Windows, but Windows PCs and how we partner together to engineer them,” wrote Mike Angiulo, vice president of the Ecosystem and Planning team at Microsoft, in a blog post Monday. “The deep engineering collaborations from the Silicon and component manufacturers through to our PC partners and Windows engineering team have provided a compelling suite of exciting new Windows PCs that deliver on the promise of fast and fluid, always on and always connected, thin and light, and all-day battery life. We are looking forward to the exciting announcements ahead from Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung.”

Image Credit: Microsoft

ARM Extends Hand to Globalfoundries to Produce Chips Using 20nm Node Process

Paul Lilly — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:49:47 +0000

Globalfoundries and ARM have inked a multi-year agreement to jointly develop optimized system-on-chip (SoC) solutions using 20-nanometer and FinFET process technologies, the two company's announced today. The new agreement is really an extension of a long-standing collaboration between these two firms, and it also includes work on graphics processors, which are becoming ever more important in the mobile space.

The two companies have been working for years tweaking ARM's Cortex A series of processors for higher performance and improved power efficiency. This new agreement extends those prior efforts as the two sides focus heavily on 20nm chips and three-dimensional FinFET transistor technology. According to ARM and Globalfoundries, the joint development will result in next generation SoC solutions reaching the market faster than would otherwise be possible.

"This early engagement promotes the rapid adoption of ARM and Globalfoundries technologies in future SoCs for several important markets," said Simon Segars, executive vice president and general manager, Processor and Physical IP Divisions at ARM. "Customers designing for mobile, tablet and computing applications will benefit extensively from the energy-efficient ARM processor and graphics processor included in this collaboration. By proactively working together to enable next-generation 20nm-LPM and FinFET process technologies, our mutual customers can be assured a range of implementation options that will enable two more generations of advanced semiconductor devices."

The technology this partnership is based on will ultimately manifest itself in next generation tablet and smartphone devices, as well as other mobile applications. It will also apply pressure to TSMC and Intel to stay on top of their respective games.

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Samsung Details 'Exynos 5 Dual' Chip with Better than Retina Display Muscle

Paul Lilly — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:32:56 +0000

Samsung today took the mobile world by storm by introducing its new Exynos 5 Dual SoC (System-on-Chip) manufactured on a 32nm High K/Metal Gate process. It features the world's first ARM Cortex A15 dual-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz and is capable of driving WQXGA (2560x1600) displays, paving the way for a new generation of tablets that trump the much hyped Retina display on Apple's third gen iPad device.

There are plenty of technical details to digest, one of the highlights of which is the quad-core Mali-T604 GPU built into the Exynos 5 Dual. It's better equipped than Qualcomm's Adreno 225 GPU, and in addition to driving better-than-Retina level displays, it also supports stereoscopic 3D and is five times more powerful than previous Mali GPUs.

Samsung's Exynos 5 Dual is a veritable powerhouse across the board. It can pump out 60fps at 2560x1600, is equipped with a 128-bit multi-layered bus architecture, supports 800MHz LPDDR3/DDR3 interfaces for 12.8GB/s of memory bandwidth, has USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps controllers, and is littered with APIs like DirectX 11, OpenGL ES 3.0, and OpenCL 1.1.

No products have yet been announced with the Exynos 5 Dual, but we can't wait to see which ones emerge.

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ARM Inks Deal With TSMC To Develop Sub-20nm Procs With 3D Transistors

Brad Chacos — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:59:57 +0000

ARM's relentless attack on Intel's dominant position continues. In recent months, the mobile-friendly company has won major victories in the form of the ARM-compatible Windows RT operating system and cracking the 3.0GHz clock speed barrier with a smaller, 28nm-based Cortex A9. Now, ARM's following Intel's lead on another major front: 3D transistors. Today, ARM announced it has signed a long-term deal with TSMC to develop sub-20nm 64-bit CPUs based around TSMC's FinFET 3D transistor technology.

Intel's leap into Tri-Gate 3D transistors gave Ivy Bridge a big jump in power efficiency and a decent performance boost. ARM's processors -- more specifically, mostly its Cortex A9 processors -- are already found in scads of mobile devices and boast impressive energy efficiency; switching to 3D transistors could make ARM-powered smartphones and tablets last even longer.

Meanwhile, focusing on the 64-bit ARMv8 architecture in these 3D transistor-based chips -- current ARM procs are 32-bit -- opens up the doors for ARM in higher-end computing and server applications. Prototype ARMv8 systems aren't expected to start showing up until 2014, however.

The big question is: can TSMC actually keep up with market demand? Making the jump to 28nm has been difficult for the fab company, and adding vertical transistors adds a whole new dimension of complexity (literally).

New Office Does Not Support Windows XP and Windows Vista

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 06:18:09 +0000

At a special event in San Francisco earlier today, Microsoft raised the curtain on the 15th version of its Office productivity suite, which has historically been a huge cash cow for the company. Speaking at the said press event, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer the new Office “will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8.” Well, turns out there really aren’t an awful lot of things out there beyond Windows 8 that can fire up the new Office, for Office 2013’s pyrotechnics are reserved for Windows 8 and Windows 7 only and users with older operating systems will need to upgrade in order to get in on the action.

According to the Office Customer Preview FAQ page, the new Office requires either Windows 7 or Windows 8 (Release Preview or higher) to run and that “it isn’t possible to install on a PC running Windows XP or Vista.” While Microsoft’s decision to not support the archaic Windows XP is not surprising, the two—er, few—remaining Vista users probably did not see this coming. It’s worth noting here that unlike the new Office, its predecessor, Office 2010, supports three generations of Windows beginning with XP.

Image Credit: Microsoft

Report: Microsoft's June 18 Event to Center on Windows RT Devices

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:02:52 +0000

Microsoft is gearing up to enter the ARM-based media tablet market. All its hopes rest on how well Windows RT (Windows on ARM) is received by users. At this moment, though, it’s far too early to even speculate about the kind of response that awaits Windows RT-based tablets. But if a new report is to be believed, we’re likely to have a good enough idea come Monday.

Microsoft is set to make a “major announcement” at a special event in Los Angeles on Monday, June 18, 2012. Though the press invitation for the event is mum on the exact nature of the announcement, an All Things D report citing sources “outside the company” claims that the Redmond-based company plans to showcase devices running Windows RT at the event.

Expected to debut at the same time as Windows 8, Windows RT is an ARM-friendly version of the popular desktop operating system. It won’t support legacy x86 applications, but only those apps that are developed using Windows Runtime. Recent rumors suggest Windows RT licenses will cost OEMs anywhere between $85-95, leading many to cast serious doubts over Windows RT’s chances in the tablet race.