Intel, major Asian PC makers negotiate better chip technology

PanARMENIAN.Net - Intel is in talks with major Asian PC makers that could see new laptops released as early as December this year that feature fast, battery-saving processor technology announced by the company at a financial analyst's meeting.

The U.S. firm said the talks include Acer, Asustek, Lenovo and Samsung. The laptops will be able to run all day on one charge without compromising speed, said Navin Shenoy, a vice president and general manager for Intel Asia-Pacific.

"It's the usual cast of characters. We've briefed just about everybody in that category of original equipment manufacturing and original design manufacturing," Shenoy told a reporters on a conference call. "We want to reinvent the PC. The ecosystem in Taiwan and South Korea is going to be an important part of what we do."

Those partners would make "incredibly sleek, powerful notebooks" that can be always on or always connected save on battery life, he said.

Some will be sliders, meaning they include parts that can be pushed up along the device's body to reveal keyboards, and some will be convertibles that feature screens that can rotate from standard laptop form factor into a tablet-PC like form factor.

The laptops will be released between Christmas this year and 2013, Shenoy said.

The Asia-Pacific official's timeline follows statements from Intel CEO Paul Otellini that the company would accelerate a shift to more advanced manufacturing technologies, meaning faster production of lower-power chips for small mobile devices.

Laptops will also get thinner and lighter, able to run all day on one battery charge, Otellini said.

Intel's shift comes as the company faces competition from ARM, a UK firm with low-power processor designs used now in tablets and smartphones including the iPad and iPhone, IDG News Service reported.