RSSToshiba expected to sell laptop powered by Cell processor
By Michael Hatamoto | Published May 12, 2008, 6:24 PM
Computer manufacturer Toshiba is expected to release at least one notebook this year that uses the Cell Broadband Engine, a chip architecture that helps power the Sony PlayStation 3 game console.
Industry analysts indicate the Toshiba Qosmio G40 laptop will use the SpursEngine SE1000 chip, after a working prototype was introduced to the consumer market in January. Working samples of the SE1000 chip were made available at the beginning of last month.
The SE1000 has four Cell Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) cores, which can handle MPEG 2 and H.264 encoding, while decoding at a full 1080p resolution. The chip has a 1.5GHz clock frequency and consumers just 10W to 20W of power.
Cell can utilize up to eight SPEs and is controlled by a CPU element, while the SE1000 is controlled by a PCI-E controller. The SpursEngine has the same processing capabilities as the Cell, but it's just a tad bit slower.
Toshiba is working with Corel, CyberLink, Leadtek and other software makers to ensure its SE1000 is supported in future software releases, the company said.
After it threw in the towel over its HD DVD format, Toshiba is strongly promoting Cell technology for notebooks and TVs, and fuel cells to help increase notebook battery life. The company had a good streak of success with its NAND flash, disk drives and cell phones, but the NAND market has dropped while demand for the company's disk drives and cell phones also have seen a significant decrease.
Developed by Toshiba, Sony and IBM, the Cell processor was promoted in 2005 as the next-generation processor for TVs, notebooks, DVD players and high-definition players. IBM's BladeCenter QS20 was the first Cell-based blade server released on the market in late 2006, but few other Cell implementations have arrived since the PlayStation 3 launched.
Toshiba said it is working on several TV models that will use the Cell processor, but they are not expected until mid-2009.
They need to do this to drive down the cost to produce the Cell processor. I believe the deal they have with Sony requires them to reduce the component price every so often to help offset PS3 hardware losses.
Good luck Toshiba.
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Maybe they want it to be released in time for Windows 7 support. That would indeed stir things up in the CPU market...
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This would be cool for any OS.
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Being able to run Windows and x86/x64 software on this with Transmeta's code-morphing technology could turn the market on it's head.
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It can be as great as it wants, the Cell is still a nightmare to program. Plus the smaller the market share the less profitable to optimize for it. Innovation and competition is good but do manufacturers really care about a new complex platform while similar parts are mature and considered commodity these days?
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I wholeheartedly applaud this move-- the Cell processor is way superior to any intel / amd offering... more software & OS support is crucial...
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10 to 20 watts at 1.5ghz not bad at all.
But what a waste of usable screen area.
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And what a waste of usable KEYBOARD area ...
Why not include a dedicated number pad???
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http://www.walmart.com/c...0944&ci_sku=8222990
Boo Yah.
Excellent Lappy if you absolutely need a keypad.
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Does it dance?
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Heh..
Depends on how bad your RLS is....
;)
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Controlled by the PCI-E controller? So it sounds like it's just a "co-processing" chip and would be in addition to a regular CPU, intended mainly for video decoding presumably. Or does anyone else have more substantial info?
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Yeah, from the article, it sounds like a simple (yet powerful) hardware decoder card.
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An inexpensive hardware card like this could be a huge boon to the HTPC industry, especially for roll-your-own htpc's that are not up to snuff for HD decoding but would do well otherwise. The only real problem I would bet on is the codec/driver interface involved with getting h.264 or what have you to utilize the card. From what I understand, it would probably benefit any codec as long as it is written to take advantage of the cell's engine.
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Who says it's inexpensive? ;) I also wonder how this compares to modern, budget graphics cards, which almost all now include some level of hardware video decoding, and from the tests I've seen it works fairly well. I agree that CELL could be a real contender here - this kind of workload is basically an ideal case for it - but it's questionable whether people will be interested in buying yet another card, especially if existing graphics cards do this "well enough".
Anyway the real question is why debut this first in a laptop?
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Because laptops don't have the powerful cards that desktops do. Using your own argument, laptops will benefit much more.
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"Anyway the real question is why debut this first in a laptop?"
Maybe for this reason!
"I agree that CELL could be a real contender here - this kind of workload is basically an ideal case for it - but it's questionable whether people will be interested in buying yet another card, especially if existing graphics cards do this "well enough"."
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For the cost of putting this into a laptop you might as well just upgrade the main GPU and get essentially the same thing, but also improvements in 3D games, etc. There are plenty of notebook GPU configurations that can decode HD video in hardware. It's mainly just the onboard Intel-based stuff that can't these days.
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Commenting on cost when none was given?
Internet comedy at it's finest...
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Perhaps it is disingenuous to comment on cost when said cost is not known; however, low-end graphics cards might add an additional $50 to the price of a laptop. With that being said, I find it doubtful that adding this Cell-based coprocessor won't increase the cost by more than $50.
However, I will not judge this development. I do not understand the logic of declaring a technology "dead" before it even launches. What do I have to gain by saying something like that? This product will be judged by the market when it launches, and we shall see whether or not it truly brings value to consumers.
P.S. Do a google search for "Bob's guide to its vs it's" (This isn't directed to just you ;p... and of course, I say this with no malicious intentions.)
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That's basically what the Cell Broadband Engine is... a bunch of DSPs that rely on the main core to send them instructions. It is often erroneously referred to as a multi-core processor (4-, 7-, or 8-core, etc). Even though the vast majority of its incredible number-crunching power comes from the DSPs, they are not autonomous.
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P.S. Do a google search for "Bob's guide to its vs it's" (This isn't directed to just you ;p... and of course, I say this with no malicious intentions.)
Meanie. :p Yeah, my bad. Didn't proof that comment...
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