Intel CEO gives peek into laptop future with Broadwell chip

Intel provided a glimpse into the PC future by showing off a laptop based on the Broadwell architecture that is faster and more battery-friendly than current ones based on Haswell processors.

During a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich showed the thin-and-light laptop running a gaming application, and it looked much like the ultrabooks currently available from top PC makers.

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Krzanich hinted that the Broadwell PCs could arrive in the second half of next year, but didn't provide an exact date.

Core chips based on Broadwell will be 30 percent more power efficient and faster than their Haswell counterparts, Krzanich said. Analysts have estimated CPU performance improvements in Haswell at 10 percent to 20 percent compared to previous Ivy Bridge chips.

Lenovo recently announced ThinkPads with Haswell chips that could offer 17 hours of run time through internal and swappable batteries. Broadwell laptops could provide even longer battery life.

Krzanich admitted that the PC market is changing with the popularity of tablets, and one of Intel's goals with its upcoming PC chips is to extend battery life as much as possible.

The chips will be made using the 14-nanometer process, which will also bring some performance and power improvements. Current Haswell chips are made using the 22-nanometer process.

"Fourteen nanometers is here, it is working, and we will be shipping by the end of this year," Krzanich said. The first 14-nm Broadwell chips will likely go into low-power Xeon server chips and then to PCs.

Intel is trying to grow its participation in the tablet market and will announce new Atom tablet chips code-named Bay Trail on Wednesday. The Bay Trail chips will go into tablets priced under $99 by the end of this year, Krzanich said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

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How about a solar-powered, submersible laptop for $350?

Computerworld - Next week in Ghana, a Canadian company will officially launch a solar-powered laptop that may soon find its way into North America, perhaps as a Chromebook.

The firm, WeWi Telecommunications, has built a rugged and submersible laptop that's designed to handle severe environments and quickly charge up on solar power. What's especially interesting is the price: It starts at $350.

The London, Ontario-based firm is calling it SOL, and the system was built to solve the problems developing countries have, said David Snir, the CEO and founder of WeWi. "We traveled to Africa and we saw the need," said Snir, who noted a frustrating inability to get electricity when working in that country.

SOL will also be released in North America by the end of the year and its specs and capabilities may find appeal in the U.S. market.

The solar-powered SOL laptop could come to the U.S. later this year.

The laptop weighs about five pounds, and is about 2 inches thick at its highest point. But that's part of the trade-off for having solar panels.

The four solar panels are little smaller than the 13.3-in. LCD display and open up in butterfly fashion. The panels are protected by the clamshell cover.

In sunlight, the solar panels can charge the replaceable battery in about two hours. (In cloudy conditions, a full charge might take up to three hours.) The battery is good for about eight to 10 hours, said Snir. The solar panels can be detached from the notebook and -- connected by wire -- placed in a sunny area to charge the unit while a user works at a desk or under a shady tree.

The system has been tested with Ubuntu Linux, which is being installed on it. But other operating systems are possible. In North America, Chromebook is one of the possibilities.

"We love Chrome," said Snir. "We see huge potential in Chrome."

Chromebooks require an Internet connection, something that's not an always an option in some regions of the world. For North America, "we are absolutely considering coming out with a version using Chrome," said Snir.

Channel partners will have the ability to install their own operating systems, as well.

The system is rugged. The shell is made of fiber-reinforced polymers. The internal electronics are protected as well, and there are shock absorbers inside to help protect the system from falls. For $50 more, there's a version that is submersible.

"Instead of making sure water would not seep into the computer, we said it's going to happen anyway," said Snir. With that design approach in mind, all the electronics are coated with hydrophobic nano materials that completely repel water, he said.

The system will support 3G and 4G networks, along with Wi-Fi, and it has SIM card support. There is an Intel Atom chip, and a 320GB hard disk drive. The SOL can support 2GB to 4GB of memory.

There's really not much mark-up on the system, said Snir.

"We really want to get Africa connected and we really want to help developing countries," he said. "We're not out to make a huge amount for money from our laptops."

Patrick Thibodeau covers cloud computing and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at  @DCgov or subscribe to Patrick's RSS feed . His e-mail address is pthibodeau@computerworld.com.

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