Intel Leads Industry Efforts in All-Day Notebooks

Intel Leads Industry Efforts For All-Day Notebook Computing

New Industry Working Group Aims to Deliver More than Eight Hours of Battery Life

In an effort to deliver all-day battery life for Intel-based laptop computers, Intel Corporation today announced the formation of the Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group. The goal of the group is to address challenges in achieving all-day notebook computing on a single battery charge.

Leaders in the computing industry have joined to address common challenges and stimulate technologies with the ultimate goal of achieving eight hours of battery life and beyond.

Industry supporters of the working group include: Acer Inc., ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Compal Electronics Inc., Dell Computer Corporation, First International Computer Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Inventec Corporation, Legend Holdings Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, Quanta Computer Inc. and Wistron Corporation.

“In an ideal world, mobile PCs would run all day, freeing people to access information wherever they choose without scrambling for electrical outlets,” said Anand Chandrasekher, vice president Intel Mobile Platform Group. “The collective efforts of the working group will enable users to ‘cut the AC cord,’ and bring us closer to achieving all-day battery life.”

The working group is comprised of companies with technical expertise in notebook design and understanding of the components that consume and manage power, including the screen, graphics, hard-disk drives, the operating system, the microprocessor and chipset, and wireless devices.

The group will use its combined efforts to address regulatory and environmental concerns for the acceptance of new power-friendly technologies and power sources. Some initial exploration will focus on the use of fuel cells and display subsystems. Although considerable, the advances in the Li-Ion battery technology – the mainstay of mobile PC power sources – are not keeping up with emerging notebook usage models including digital entertainment, multimedia and wireless connectivity. Initial improvements to the battery life for Intel-based laptop computers resulting from the group’s work are expected in 2004.

Current usage models for mobile PCs vary widely from a casual “plug-to-plug” user who has limited need for mobility, to today’s “road warrior,” who spends most of the time on the road, to the future-generation wireless notebooks user who needs constant connectivity to the Internet, e-mail and files any time, anywhere. The group will also define and articulate common usage models for all-day computing for mobile PCs as well as aid in the development of future mobile benchmarks. While existing benchmarks have started addressing today’s usage models, there is no consensus in the industry that they accurately reflect all users.

The working group will hold its first meeting in October 2002, in conjunction with Intel Developers Forum in Taiwan. At this meeting, the group will discuss the organisation’s framework and its initial priorities.

About Intel Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at http://www.intel.com/pressroom.

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