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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."

20 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. WTF by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

    Intel Debuts Clover Trail For Tablets, Launches New Atom Inside

    Clover Trail? Wazzat? A game? A processor? Actual clover? It has an atom inside? Wow, OK. Good for them? Takes a lot to launch a single atom, does it?

    Some days tech headlines just make no damn sense to me at all. Getting old, I think. Early onset discombobulation.

    1. Re:WTF by fredgiblet · · Score: 2

      Hell of a way to speak to your wife.

  2. 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 KalvinB · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/13/business/fi-rup13.11

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    2. 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.

    3. Re:Hmmm... by cbhacking · · Score: 2

      So, it includes the main thing that a TPM is used for (key storage)? Or is it only ephemeral and loses data during a power-cycle?

      Hardware-accelerated crypto and hardware RNG are both very useful features that have only recently become common on commidity CPUs. I'm somewhat impressed that they bothered to put it in a tablet-oriented chip, but I can see the logic (no pun intended).

      --
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  3. Astroturf alert by pipedwho · · Score: 3, Informative

    Astroturf alert. This is a block copy marketing pitch from a company dedicated to finding sources to buy ICs. Complete with blatant mention of themselves when they have no direct link to an Intel product they are 'announcing'.

  4. 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

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    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 ;)

      --
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    2. Re:Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't know whether that article is correct or not; but(if we assume for the sake of argument that it is) the thing that really doesn't make sense to me is what Intel's motivation would be:

      He gives the impression that both Intel and Microsoft are working against the part(Intel doesn't want the lousy margins, Microsoft is undermining Win8 x86 tablets with office licensing terms); but that the part is also a 100% hardware-locked MS-only device that they won't even let any other potential customer have a crack at, much less have any genuine enthusiasm for trying to sell it to them.

      However, if that is so, why does the part exist at all? If it is so big that it is practically an i3, why would Intel design an entirely different chip rather than just lasering something off their weaker i3s and giving them an inscrutable model number and OEM only distribution? And if Microsoft is shafting Intel on the part, why is Intel making it a Windows exclusive(and on the processor level, not merely with a locked bootloader, which would allow MS OEMs to do their thing and Intel to still sell this to Android vendors, embedded linux appliance vendors, and whoever else)?

      That's what I don't understand about the story as presented: plenty of products ship deliberately crippled because somebody prefers them that way(see all DRM systems, for instance); but that crippling isn't free, so it has to be in somebody's apparent interest for it to happen. Here, none of the players seem interested: Intel, allegedly, has a chip that can't compete with their existing products, and isn't a winner on margins. MS has a chip apparently designed just for them, except they would rather ship punchier devices with those existing products. So, who wins here?

    3. 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."
    4. Re:Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 2

      I am? Wow, who knew.

                          -Charlie

    5. Re:Semi-Accurate predicts horrible failure by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2

      Yes, and they're all crap in practice.

      No they're not. They're effective little machines for the price.

      I have distributed dozens of them, and with few exceptions they're all well-loved tools or toys, being used for communicating with Skype and Gtalk, auditing & inspection, as mobile manual repositories and for watching movies on flight.

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

    --
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  8. Re:But does it run Linux? by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    Agreed, all the signs of a massive Microsoft tablet fail are here. I wonder what they're thinking? Maybe Microsoft hopes that the usual MSOffice addiction will make everything ok? If so they're due to be sadly disappointed when naive users discover that rubber keyboards just do not substitute for even a tiny clamshell, let alone a form factor suitable for real work. And then there will be the inevitable file compatibility issues. And the confused messaging about whether you're supposed to use the tablet as a laptop replacement or whether you're supposed to drink the cloud apps koolaid.

    After the smoke clears the market will be left with a lot of unsaleable Microsoft tablet stock gathering dust in warehouses. Cue the Linux geeks to make these things actually work like usable tablets, for cheap.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  9. Re:single core by dreamchaser · · Score: 2

    With clovertrail provided a single core from tablets, how to prove intel can best at the user experience? If not to be slow or middle then only above pricing can user pay for best experience. They say "power" and only think domain and voltages but user need other gfx domain.

    Wide adoption hoplesss?

    I am not sure what you mean...it's dual core with hyperthreading. It sounds like it will be a flop for other reasons but you're post makes no sense.

  10. I think people get confused by the "semi" part by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    His blog would better be known as "Rarely Accurate". Every once and awhile he gets good information but usually, he just makes shit up.

    For example he claimed that Kepler, nVidia's architecture now known as the GTX 600 series, would be under-performing and feature large parts dedicated to PhysX and that AMD's CGN would be a "clear winner". As it turns out that is not the case, the GTX 680 is extremely fast, quite energy efficient, and beats out the 7970 from AMD. And no big PhysX areas, just lots of stream processing cores (which is what GPUs are these days).

    Then when it launched and had big shortages due to extremely high demand he claimed it was because it didn't work right on TSMC's 28nm process and supply issues would forever plague it. Now, they are in stock everywhere and can be had in quantity whenever you wish.

    I really wish people would stop linking to this troll and giving him ad money. The guy is not a great source of information and worse still in the absence of actual information he'll just make shit up.

    The thing certainly doesn't use a ton of power, it's TDP spec is less than 2 watts and I have never seen Intel underspec a TDP. That means it will never, under any situation, dissipate more than 2 watts and by extension never draw more than that.

    The question is, of course, how well it performs at that power level, particularly compared to competition at the same level.

  11. Microsoft and Intel dont benefit from phone-laptop by rsborg · · Score: 2

    ...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.

    So you're saying that Microsoft and Intel will create a device that lets you stop paying for laptop and corresponding OS and Office upgrades just so you can buy a phone with likely less margin than an iPhone?

    This is fantasy. Do not expect these companies to disrupt their own markets - it's not in their DNA and it's not in their best interest. Expect this phone to NOT be able to do nearly everything your laptop could do, even if it has the power to do so (Apple has gotten quite good margins from their "can't really do what a laptop can" iPad - MSFT and Intel just want in on the action).

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