Tri-gate transistors Cut Power Consumption

[Jon Westfall]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,126044,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/resource/art...,RSS,RSS,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Researchers at Intel have found a better way to insulate circuits, enabling them to save energy as they pack more transistors onto each processor. Intel could start building chips with these new "tri-gate transistors" by 2010, enabling either a 45 percent increase in speed or a 35 percent reduction in total power used, compared to the company's current 65-nanometer process transistors, said Mike Mayberry, director of components research and vice president of Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group. The advance could be a powerful sales tool, since power efficiency is a crucial marketing metric for chips in PCs ranging from powerful servers to mobile laptops and handheld PDAs."</i><br /><br />I'm starting to wonder how much longer we'll be bugged by the omnipresent need to charge things - it seems like new developments in battery technology are announced fairly often. How long until the days of "I charged it last month, so I'll charge it again in July" :D

[Robb Bates]

How long until the days of "I charged it last month, so I'll charge it again in July" :D

Sadly, I just sold an old PDA that could do that. My old HP200LX Palmtop Computer. I could go two to four weeks on a set of AA batteries.

I think it's going to be some time before we see that again, since you KNOW that given the choice, manufacturers are going to choose the speed increase over the battery life.

SIGH!

Robb

[makic]

Not merely speed, but also wireless, vga screens, and whatever futuristic features we can look forward to, will keep us frequently charging the batteries in our devices.