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New computer chips help PCs compete with tablets
January 4, 2011 By JORDAN ROBERTSON , AP Technology Writer
In this Sept. 13, 2010 file photo, Intel CEO Paul Otellini gives the keynote
address at a conference in San Francisco. Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices
Inc., whose processors are the “brains” of PCs, are both unveiling significant
changes to their chips’
designs at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (AP
Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
Semiconductor companies are whipping up a new generation of chips to bring
richer video and better battery life to personal computers and help them hold
off threats from tablets and increasingly powerful smart phones.
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., whose processors are the "brains"
of PCs, are unveiling significant changes to their chips' designs at this week's
International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Tablet computers and other gadgets have taken on many of the tasks once
performed by PCs, and there are already signs that those devices - led by Apple
Inc.'s iPad - are eating away at PC sales.
Intel and AMD are responding with new chips designed to make people think twice
before picking a tablet over a new PC. The new chips won't dampen the success of
tablets, but they will make traditional, low-cost computers more competitive -
by making them better at doing graphics-intensive tasks and playing video.
The improvements that Intel and AMD make to their products are felt with every
keystroke or click of a mouse, even if most computer buyers aren't paying
attention to the intricacies of chip design.
For example, people have come to expect the benefits of Moore's Law, even if
they don't know the technical specifics underlying the prediction that computer
processors' performance will double every two years. The principle has guided
the industry for more than 40 years, and is a key reason why computers have
gotten smarter even as they've gotten smaller.
One major change in chip design that Moore's Law enabled and consumers felt came
several years ago. That's when Intel and AMD took chips known as "memory
controllers," which have historically been separate from a computer's main
processor, and put them on the same piece of silicon as the processor itself.
The controllers act as middlemen between the processor and a computer's memory.
Shortening the distance between the parts cuts the amount of time they needed to
talk to each other, helping the computers work faster.
A similar thing is happening in the new generation of chips.
This time, Intel and AMD have thrown another feature - graphics, which too had
historically been handled by a separate chip - also onto the same silicon as the
computer's main, general-purpose processor.
And by coupling graphics more tightly with a computer's main processor, there's
another benefit besides faster communication. The power the parts need to talk
to each other is also reduced, leading to longer battery life.
Think of what's happening in chips like what's happened with cell phones:
Technical innovations mean more stuff can fit into a smaller space. In the case
of computer processors, Moore's Law is driven by the fact that transistors, the
tiny on-off switches that regulate the flow of data in computer chips, keep
getting smaller.
"It's a natural evolution of integration," said Jon Peddie, who studies the
semiconductor industry as president of Jon Peddie Research. "We keep putting
more and more stuff into the processor - now it's graphics' turn to get shoved
into the processor along with all the stuff that previous generations have
shoved in. The big difference this time is because of the processors' smaller
size, the capability of the graphics is significantly better."
With the current chips, cheap, low-end laptops are largely poor at playing
high-quality video, a task too taxing for the machines' underpowered chips.
Those laptops, which also include so-called "netbooks," will likely benefit
first from the new chip designs, said Martin Reynolds, a vice president and
research fellow at Gartner Inc. who studies the computer market.
Intel and AMD are using different technical approaches, but the results are
similar: Consumers should expect "snappier operations in anything involving
pixel movement," from playing games to editing photos and video and preparing
PowerPoint and other visually rich presentations, Peddie said.
But Peddie cautions that even with the new chips, the low-end computers will
still be too weak for certain uses, including graphics-intensive video games.
Still, the changes could eliminate the need for many people to buy separate
graphics cards, which can add hundreds of dollars to the price of a PC. The
shift is an opportunity for Intel and AMD, which can charge higher prices for
chips that have higher-quality graphics capabilities built in. Intel doesn't
mind if people buy fewer graphics cards since it doesn't sell them. Intel's
graphics have been built into its "chipsets," yet another type of chip inside
computers. They handle a range of tasks.
The situation is more delicate for AMD, which does make the cards. AMD hopes
that stealing even small amounts of business from Intel offsets any risks to
graphics-card sales.
The latest lines of chips can be seen as a response to the sudden popularity of
tablet PCs, starting with the launch of the iPad last April.
Tablet makers have turned to such chip-makers as Samsung Electronics Co., Texas
Instruments Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. Even Apple now makes its own chips. Their
chips are built on a different design and sip power rather than gulp it - a
requirement of mobile devices and a problem that Intel and AMD have yet to
crack.
Intel and AMD are trying to address that problem by aping the sleek and
streamlined approach that has helped make tablets so popular.
"Tablets have forced the PC ecosystem to be thin and light," said Doug Freedman,
an analyst with Gleacher & Co. "If they don't want to lose market share, they're
going to have to design a more efficient PC."
The new chips aren't likely to upset the historically steady breakdown between
Intel and AMD. Intel sells 80 percent of the chips that run on the so-called
"x86" standard for chip design, which is used in Windows and Mac computers. AMD
has the remaining 20 percent of the market.
But the new products could help keep both companies relevant in a tablet era.
After all, despite the rise of tablets, they aren't good for everything.
"Tablets are great devices for consuming content, but creation of content is
best done on PCs," said Tom Kilroy, an Intel senior vice president.
The attack on tablets by Intel and AMD isn't without a key disclaimer: Now that
Apple has proved that there's an appetite for tablet computers, both chip-makers
want in.
Both companies have been chosen to make chips for tablets, but analysts say
power consumption will likely remain an issue that needs to be resolved.
"It's a great opportunity for them," Reynolds said. "They just haven't figured
out a way to do that yet."
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