Posted on Wednesday, September 04 2019 @ 8:35 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Over at IFA 2019 in Berlin, Intel and its partners will showcase new laptops that have gone through the Intel "Project Athena" qualification process. This project aims to increase the standard, by ensuring Project Athena laptops exceed certain performance and quality targets. This includes consistent responsiveness on battery, a battery life of at least 16 hours in local video playback mode, at least nine hours of real-world performance battery life, system wake from sleep in under 1 second, at least a 256GB NVMe SSD, etc.
What's New: At IFA 2019 in Berlin, Intel is showcasing advancements in mobile computing that are driving the next evolution in PCs. The company shared details on new laptops verified through its innovation program code-named "Project Athena" and updates on Intel's Open Labs, supporting performance and low-power optimization of vendor components for laptops. Throughout the week, new laptops based on the all-new 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors will be announced from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, MSI and Razer. The 10th Gen Intel Core family includes a range of mobile PC processors that are redefining what's possible in thin-and-light laptops and 2 in 1s – from next-generation graphics and new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to delivering the performance scaling needed for demanding multithreaded workloads.
"With Intel's unmatched portfolio of leadership IP and technologies, the broad-scale innovation we're driving across the ecosystem with Project Athena, and deep co-engineering efforts with our partners, we're bringing next-gen laptop experiences to life. It's an exciting time for the PC as we celebrate our joint efforts in pushing laptop innovation into the next era." –Chris Walker, Intel corporate vice president and general manager, Mobile Client Platforms in the Client Computing Group
New Laptops Verified through Project Athena: Intel's OEM partners are also announcing new laptop configurations verified to the target specification and key experience indicators of the Project Athena innovation program, which will join Dell Inspiron 14 5000, Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1, Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, HP EliteBook x360 1040, HP EliteBook x360 1030 G4, HP EliteBook x360 830 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Check back in with the Intel Newsroom throughout the week for the latest news from Intel's partners at IFA 2019.
As first revealed in August, laptops verified through Project Athena will feature the "Engineered for Mobile Performance" identifier in signage and product marketing efforts from Intel and its partners. Look for it in stores and online from PC manufacturers and retailers including Best Buy, Costco, Dixons and JD.com this holiday season.
"Project Athena-based laptops will deliver what our members desire with improved performance, instant on, intelligence, great battery life and improved connectivity all in new, beautiful, sleek form factors. We're excited to partner with Intel to be at the forefront of PC innovation," said Jon Bubitz, general manager for PC Business at Costco.
"Project Athena-based laptops will soon launch on JD, and we are excited to partner with Intel to bring the best user experience to our customer," said Yalong Li, general manager of the Laptop PC Department, JD.com.
"With the Project Athena program, Intel and key brand partners are focused on delivering the most innovative devices for our customers," said Matthew Higginson, head of Category Computing, Windows & Chrome at Dixons Carphone. "Great benefits including improved battery life, beautiful designs and accelerated performance are sure to give them an amazing user experience. We're excited to feature Project Athena-based laptops at Currys PC World as a great solution for our customers."
Laptop Components Optimized in Open Labs: Launched in Taipei, Shanghai and Folsom, California, this year, Intel's Open Labs support performance and low-power optimization of vendor components for laptops aligned to Project Athena. Since opening in June, more than 20 laptop components have been verified for low-power optimization, and Intel continues to work with the industry to expand component assessment and validation.
Among the verified components are solid-state drives, touch controllers, embedded controllers and display panels, which can often have the greatest effect on a device's performance and power consumption. Enabling component vendor assessment, tuning and compliance at the Open Labs will help drive consistency in delivering Intel's vision for Project Athena. A list of verified optimized components will be available to OEMs for consideration throughout upcoming product development cycles.
What's Next: As part of its long-term commitment to advancing innovation with the ecosystem, Intel will be joined by more than 800 members of the PC ecosystem on Sept. 5-6 in Taipei, Taiwan, and Sept. 9-10 in Shanghai, China, for its Ecosystem Symposium series to share insights on the program and discuss future innovation efforts.
