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Intel Debuts Clover Trail For Tablets, Launches New Atom Inside

Posted by timothy on from the double-dose-of-pimpin'-action dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Today, Intel is launching its next-generation Clover Trail platform. The new Intel Z2760 is a dual-core, quad-threaded device clocked at up to 1.8GHz, with support for up to 2GB of RAM and graphics provided courtesy of a single PowerVR SGX545 core. Chipzilla expects to see wide adoption from multiple partners, with a host of tablets expected to launch simultaneously with Windows 8. The new SoC is closely related to Medfield, Intel's 32nm smartphone platform that ExtremeTech reviewed earlier this year, but there are a few differences between the two."

8 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does anybody know what 'Security Engine' is, and what exactly it is using about 1/3 as much silicon as one of the processor cores to do exactly?

    None of the thermal die shots appear to show it actually doing much of anything demanding; but I have to assume that Intel didn't put it there just because they really wanted the processor to be a bit bigger and more power hungry.

    1. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      *You* don't know what a TPM is.

      Yes it's a secure storage for keys... but you do not control the storage root key it's baked into the TPM and never leaves it. It's there to make sure that IT companies control the TPM - not you. This "trust" then climbs up the software chain (all digitally signed)... which would all be fine... if you controlled it.

      But you do not. It's not yours.

      They (being Intel, and the various IT companies, like Microsoft) do not trust you. I can't put it any better than the original quote from Alan Cox: if you don't have the keys, then it's not about security.

      And with a TPM... you don't. It's not about security - at least, not yours. It's about DRM being sold as security.

  2. Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by steveha · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/27/intels-clover-trail-is-a-bloated-nightmare/

    The author of this makes no attempt to pretend to be impartial, but if his facts are correct I think his conclusions must be correct also.

    My favorite comment:

    You can buy a full Nexus 7 for $30 more than what Microsoft gets for the software on a Clover Trail tablet, and that is before the added hardware costs. The Nexus works better, has better battery life, and is not a security nightmare either.

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    1. Re:Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by Ecuador · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Charlie is anti-Intel but he seems to have good sources therefore his info is usually correct. Of course, he is biased when drawing conclusions and you should be aware of that when reading, since he can get a little "carried away" sometimes.
      Also, I remember that Intel has managed to crush their competition in the past while selling a significantly slower, more power-hungry and more expensive product (P4 anyone?). So even if Clover Trail is "a dog" as Charlie puts it, I guess if Intel REALLY wanted to they could probably find a way to shove it down our throats ;)

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    2. Re:Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Or he just needed the lowest-priced Android tablet

      Are you kidding?

      You could buy four AllWinner tablets for the price of one Nexus 7. The SoCs are selling for less than $10 in volume.

      Free shipping,boxchip,ALLWinner A13, 7.0" Android 4.0;512MB/4GB, 5 points touch capacitiive touch.Tablet PC Price: US $42.00 - 53.50 / piece

      http://www.aliexpress.com/item/free-shipping-boxchip-ALLWinner-A13-7-0-Android-4-0-512MB-4GB-5-points-touch-capacitiive/648623535.html

      http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllWinner_A1X

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  3. Why just 2GB RAM ? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does it really make it that more power hungry/expensive to enable a few more lines for RAM addressing ? Having more RAM can help to compensate for a slower CPU -- less swapping, etc. Not all usage profiles are running a few non RAM hungry programs; even something like a web browser can end up eating lots of RAM.

    The only thing that I can think of is that they are positioning at cheap-low end and expect you to pay for a more expensive CPU if you need more RAM, kind of like what MS is doing with the cheapest Windows 7 -- it can only be sold on a machine with a max 1GB RAM.

  4. SemiAccurate reports on the chip by A+Friendly+Troll · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yes, I know SA is basically a hardware tabloid, but they usually get at least some things right...

    http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/27/intels-clover-trail-is-a-bloated-nightmare/

    I'm not going to comment on anything they wrote; make your own conclusions.

  5. An x86 phone running full Windows 8... by cplusplus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...I wants it. A phone like that could be my "laptop", and I'd continue to use my workstation at home for gaming and other big-time number crunching computery stuff. This new processor (and Medfield) are get ever closer to that. I bet (erm, hope) I will be able to buy one by this time next year.

    --
    "False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black