RSSToshiba launches the first Cell processor-based laptop
By Tim Conneally | Published July 15, 2008, 9:25 PM
Toshiba's new Qosmio G55-Q802 is the first laptop available with the Cell CPU, a technology heretofore known as the PS3 processing technology among consumers, developed jointly by Toshiba, Sony, and IBM.
It's not a PC based on a Cell platform, at least not completely. The Q802 has a Core 2 Duo on board, and is a Windows Vista-based system. The result of this Cell processor architecture, which Toshiba calls its Quad Core HD Processor, is a notebook not designed for gaming, but rather to be a multimedia entertainment unit.
Toshiba highlights four proprietary features of the Qosmio that are not unique to the notebook, but are uniquely delivered: Upconversion, Transcoding, Video Indexing, and Gesture Control.
All standard definition video files and DVDs are upconverted in real time to 720p, transcoding between high definition formats, or reducing HD to DVD quality for reproduction takes place in much shorter time.
Video Indexing refers to a technique Toshiba uses to catalog video content by images present on screen, more specifically, whom is pictured in a scene.
Finally, and perhaps most entertainingly, is the gesture control feature. With this, users can control DVDs, CDs, and PowerPoint presentations simply by using hand gestures. The Qosmio's webcam detects motion up to ten feet away and issues commands according to the movement it sees.
With a suggested retail price of $1,549.99, the G55-Q802 also features a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz FSB. Add to that Toshiba's Quad Core HD Processor, 4096 MB PC2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM, dual 250 GB 5400 rpm SATA drives, and Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics with 512 MB GDDR2 discrete graphics memory. The system comes with 64-bit Vista by default, but can be configured in 32-bit according to user preference.
so wtf... i would rather spend that on an alienware
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|"As for cost, I don't know why everyone is expecting Cell tech to be expensive. It was intentionally made A: scalable and B: commodity-priced, so it could be used in the PS3."
In concept a great idea, in reality, the volumes incorporated in the PS3 are insufficient to recoup even the non-recurring engineering costs!
And the cost of maintaining a dedicated fab environment? The problem is that it costs far too much for the return it is generating!
And they are ANYTHING BUT a commodity! And you can be sure that Sony and others certainly wish they could drive up the volume and drive down the price down to that level!
Its a shame, as the cell processor is a NICE unit. And I am more than a little surprised that Toshiba is using it in such a small role, where I suspect an additional true commodity processor would be even more cost effective.
I personally think that Sony fully hoped to reach production levels of the PS3 and the cell in order to expand the options available on the PS3 into a more powerful PC-like unit as well as using the cell in a series of pure computers. Developing addition revenue streams and increasing the market penetration of the cell simply serves to build the entire 'p0latform'.
Unfortunately, they are a niche product. And the more divergent the programming requirements, the harder the task of developing a compelling reason to adapt the unit, despite its technological prowess.
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|Yes, perhaps I should have said it was *intended* to be "commodity" (eventually). Still the price of a Cell CPU is fairly low considering its theoretical capability.
That being said it's not so low that modern x86 CPU's aren't catching up fast, and in some cases surpassing it (certainly in ease of development), and that means it's unlikely to ever gain a mainstream foothold outside of the PS3.
Honestly I don't really care if it doesn't get used outside of the console space. It may be a "nice unit", but I'd rather have developers spend their time developing better, faster software for platforms they know well than spending time figuring out a new platform for the ultimately minor gains it *might* net them, *if* they code their app correctly. By the time they figure out Cell, x86/x64 will be another step beyond. And, like you said, developing and maintaining whole separate tool chains, fabs, etc. for what is ultimately a niche CPU (as compared to the mainstream PC market) just doesn't add up to serious market competition in the PC market.
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|Isn't the headline here at odds with the copy?
"Toshiba launches the first Cell processor-based laptop" and the first sentence says "It's not a PC based on a Cell platform, at least not completely." The headline claims it's "Cell processor-based", and the first line says "it's not a PC based on a Cell platform". Inaccurate (but sensational) headlines again?
As for the system itself, I don't really think gesture control is all that exciting a use of Cell. It's kind of a shame really. Same with up/down converting - that's something modern graphics cards do fine. My big question is power use; if this thing is more efficient at those tasks than a graphics card, then great, otherwise what's the point?
As for cost, I don't know why everyone is expecting Cell tech to be expensive. It was intentionally made A: scalable and B: commodity-priced, so it could be used in the PS3. I suppose you could say they *could* jack up the price based on perceived value, even though the Cell CPU itself isn't that tremendously pricey, but until they find more exciting ways to take advantage of it for typical tasks, I don't see that it contributes enough value to really justify that.
Quite frankly I think Cell technology makes more sense in a desktop where tasks are likely to be more demanding, particularly a media center type PC. I'm not sure why they've decided to go with laptops initially.
Anyway let's all remember that a Cell-based system would have to be Linux-based, and as a result would be inherently limited in market. So despite the sensationalist headline we're not likely to see that any time soon.
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|Interesting. But who is going to make the investment tweaking software for such an exotic platform. I'd also say a more specialized unit for multimedia tasks can be produced cheaper than a generic multi-core cell. Plus default Vista 64. That's cool theoretically as well. If only all those a/v applications and drivers could use it...
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|yeah, funnily the cell processor is much better at processing media stuff instead of the gaming stuff (that's what i have been told anyways). However, I would have thought that having so many floating point units would be better for things like collision detection and stuff?
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|The Cell processor is the most powerful gaming CPU available. It's much better at gaming than multimedia tasks (such as upscaling or transcoding for example). The problem is, most developers don't want to spend the time and effort to create multithreaded games.
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|This is b/c companys try to keep cost down. Gaming companies are just like any other company, they want to make as much money as possible with lest resources. Time=$$$$$$$$$$$
"The problem is, most developers don't want to spend the time and effort to create multithreaded games."
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|True, but if you make a game that has both an excellent story line AND highly sophisticated AI as well as enveloping graphics and sound (which almost all require multithreading) the game will likely sell like hot cakes. This will make the developer even more money.
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|Assuming thats a 15in lcd, it doesnt seem too bad...expecially if it goes on sale for a few hundred $ off. :P
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|More like 18.4" according to their website...
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|Shoot, thats way to big.
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