Intel Corp. is touting its next mobile platform, dubbed Napa, as another major milestone in notebook PC history. At a session for reporters and business analysts here Tuesday, Erik Reid, product marketing director at Intel"s Mobile Platforms Group, stood Yonah—the chip maker"s first dual-core mobile Pentium processor—and Napa next to such advances as flat-panel displays and the chip maker"s first Centrino chip bundle, which helped to jump-start the trend of pairing notebooks and wireless.
Intel claims the latest notebook technology stands to boost average performance 68 percent beyond that of its current Sonoma platform, which includes its single-core Pentium M, while reducing power consumption an average of 28 percent, extending battery life beyond the 5-hour mark, Reid said. Napa also improves wireless bandwidth and can help cut the size of a notebook by 30 percent versus today"s machines, the Santa Clara, Calif., company said.