how will Dothan benefit the consumer as compared with previous Intel processors?
MacDonald: Dothan is a system chip to replace what we codename the ‘Banias’ CPU, which is one of the ingredients of the Centrino package. This was designed simply for notebook users. So if you use a notebook and care about battery life, wireless connectivity or thinner, lighter systems, then these are the features the Centrino family delivers to you. It is a much better mobile experience. Dothan is the next generation enhancement to that (manufactured on a 90 nanometre process). It’s basically more of the same – a beautiful product, but from the same stable as the current Centrino technology. Even further ahead, mention was made of the Sonoma platform. What does this signpost for the future? MacDonald: Basically, what we do is we plan, around every eighteen months roughly, for a new platform. And that will be the time when a lot of change is implemented. So, Sonoma has got the Dothan processor, it’s got a new chipset which has a whole bunch of features, and it basically has new wireles
