UMPCs and MIDs On the Chip Side

Layne Heiny at UMPC Buzz seems to have broken out with a barrage of blogging lately and he’s got two interesting posts about Ultra-Mobile PCs that focus on the guts of the small devices: processor development.

The first posts talks about 2008 being the year of the UMPC and MID focusing on Intel’s next moves which build on the x86 architecture with the Menlow and then the Moorestown platforms in the new roadmap. Layne links to this article from Rational Trader that states:

Of course, it has been possible for some time now to squeeze an x86-based PC into an ultramobile form factor, but it hasn’t been cheap or attractive. Intel may yet find some success with its 90nm, Pentium M-derived “McCaslin” UMPC platform, which just recently launched, but the party won’t really get started until McCaslin’s 45nm successor, Menlow, arrives in 2008. Menlow and its successor, Moorestown, will fundamentally change the complex cost/power/thermals/compatibility equation that dictates what kind of hardware goes into a commercially viable pocket-sized widget.

He also has posted some interesting info from Fujitsu about their development of a one-chip system power management system that appears to offer some promise for the ultra-mobile scene.