Sonoma Offers More Speed, Better Power Savings

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115699,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

"Sonoma differs from the current Centrino platform in several areas. For starters, it's based on an updated Pentium M processor, codenamed Dothan, that's made using a 90-nanometer process rather than the 130-nanometer process used to manufacture existing Pentium M chips. A more advanced process technology allows chips to be made that cost less and can offer greater performance while consuming less power.

Dothan, which will start to ship during the current quarter, offers 2MB of on-chip cache and supports a faster 533-MHz front-side bus, which connects the chipset with the processor. Dothan will also consume the same amount of power as Intel's current Pentium M chips. The existing Pentium M chips, formerly known by the codename Banias, have 1MB of on-chip cache and use a 400-MHz front-side bus."

Double the cache, faster front side bus, same power consumption? Sweet! That will make video/audio/photo editing even faster. Toss in 802.11a/b/g support and a new High Definition Audio chip, and we're golden for making notebooks better equipped for mobile digital media. Bring it on!

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115699,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

"Sonoma differs from the current Centrino platform in several areas. For starters, it's based on an updated Pentium M processor, codenamed Dothan, that's made using a 90-nanometer process rather than the 130-nanometer process used to manufacture existing Pentium M chips. A more advanced process technology allows chips to be made that cost less and can offer greater performance while consuming less power.

Dothan, which will start to ship during the current quarter, offers 2MB of on-chip cache and supports a faster 533-MHz front-side bus, which connects the chipset with the processor. Dothan will also consume the same amount of power as Intel's current Pentium M chips. The existing Pentium M chips, formerly known by the codename Banias, have 1MB of on-chip cache and use a 400-MHz front-side bus."

Double the cache, faster front side bus, same power consumption? Sweet! That will make video/audio/photo editing even faster. Toss in 802.11a/b/g support and a new High Definition Audio chip, and we're golden for making notebooks better equipped for mobile digital media. Bring it on!

[rubberdemon]

I'm glad I've held up on upgrading my laptop - this does sound like the bees knees... Anybody know if the 802.11g will be compatible with any of the 'turbo' implementations of the standard? I have the Dlink 108MB/s wireless G router and it would be nice if I could get the full speed with my new toy.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Rubberdemon

I'm glad I've held up on upgrading my laptop - this does sound like the bees knees... Anybody know if the 802.11g will be compatible with any of the 'turbo' implementations of the standard? I have the Dlink 108MB/s wireless G router and it would be nice if I could get the full speed with my new toy.

AFAIK all of the "turbo" implementations are 100% proprietary and not compatible with any of the on-board chipsets.

108 Mbps would be sweet though (108MB is impossible for now ;-))