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| Architosh News Reports | |
| Anthony Frausto-Robledo (afrausto@architosh.com) |
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Intel's new StrongARM chip architecture: A Future at Apple?
EE Times has news of Intel's plans for the StrongARM microprocessor, which it gained after its acquisition of parts of Digital Equipment Corporation. Previously, the microprocessor was manufactured by DEC for numerous applications -- the most important to Apple fans being for the Apple Newton MessagePad, which Steve Jobs eliminated from Apple's product line in early 1998. Intel's plans for the 32-bit StrongARM architecture were finally revealed at the Embedded Processor Forum in San Jose, Calif., earlier this month. The EE Times article (printed issue) states that Intel is " 'pulling out all the stops, applying all the process and architectural tricks it has learned with the X86-compatible [Pentium] processors to make the already blazingly fast StrongARM even faster and less power hungry' ". Intel's StrongARM team revealed some startling power and performance numbers at the Forum this month, with performance numbers in the 188-750 Mips range (150-600 MHz) vs about 100-233 MHz for the StrongARM 100. The last Apple Newton MessagePads, the MP2000 and MP2100, used the StrongARM SA-110 RISC processor running at 160 MHz and were the speed leaders in the PDA market by a long shot. Even more impressive were the power usage numbers -- for Newton MessagePad users you already know just how good the StrongARM is in this category. Despite the enormous increase in computing power the new Intel StrongARM chip running at 150 MHz dissipates only 40mW, whereas in the previous architecture running at 100 MHz it would draw about 135mW, which is still one of the best performance/power ratios in the industry. The new StrongARM architecture, currently code named Coyanosa, will comply with Version 5.0 of the ARM instruction-set architectural programming model, versus Version 4.0 on the original StrongARM. As the first ARM architecture done by Intel, the goal was to increase the performance of the chip architecture without affecting the underlying instruction set and legacy code. Intel is still aiming the chip architecture at the PDA market, network computers and Internet appliances, with a special emphasis on handheld information appliances. The article also states that Intel is also looking at other embedded markets such as Internet infrastructure. Does Intel StrongARM have a role in Apple's PDA future? When Intel acquired the 32-bit ARM chip architecture, many believed it was a potential factor in Apple's abandonment of the Newton MessagePad line of handheld devices; with Intel being a natural competitor to Apple, Jobs would be foolish to push the PDA line forward based on a StrongARM processor architecture with an uncertain future -- its architectural advantages notwithstanding. Most of the industry following Apple's PDA history now believe that if Apple were to ever build a new PDA line they would do so around the PowerPC chip family, optimizing some low-power version the G3 perhaps, and running the much rumored Mac OS Lite. But with Intel finally announcing their plans for expanding and improving the ARM chip architecture -- for hand held devices and Internet appliance markets in particular -- the direction Apple may go with a future PDA line and future Internet appliances is even less clear (and more flexible). And for those Newton OS loyalist out there, like me, one wonders just how fast that operating system could run on future Intel StrongARM processors? |
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