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Intel Banias takes a batterying in the mobile market

It's not really hot news, but it might be a cool chip. It was revealed back in April by The Inquirer and The Register, under the code-name "Banias" - Intel's newest PC processor - is aimed at low-power, high performance notebooks. But it doesn't seem that Intel really understands the battery problem yet.

Smarting from accusations that it could only make power-hungry hotplates for processors, Intel has been working on a strategy aimed at reducing battery drain by the typical PC notebook, and will roll out its latest chip family, Banias (code name) next year, as originally detailed in The Register and The Inquirer

Today in the Munich Intel Developer Forum, it also renewed its pledge to work with the mobile industry to reduce battery drain in all areas - but it's clear that its targets are hopelessly conservative.

According to today's keynote speaker, Anand Chandrasekher, head of the Mobile Platforms Group, Intel has development in the laboratory which will reduce overall battery consumption "by up to 20%" in the first quarter of next year. On the typical battery life, usually claimed as three hours, this would provide an extra 40 minutes of usable work time; in reality, a properly used notebook rarely gives more than two hours, and the extra 30 minutes are still a drop in the ocean of what users want.

Chandresekher said that his ambition is to have a PC that follows the model of the cellular telephone; you charge it overnight, and use it during the day.

He also said: "We believe wireless will dial up the contrast on the vectors, making battery life more important and significant to the user." What he means (almost certainly) is that people who didn't mind being plugged into the mains when they had to be plugged into the LAN, will start to resent their mains chains deeply when they can move around.

He's not wrong but he has the scale wrong; 20% extra is peanuts, even if you have the option of a notebook with a processor as powerful as Banias promises to be. Most wireless users would be perfectly content with a processor of Pentium 2 capacity at 300 MHz, if they could only get a full eight hours real useage out of it.

Chandresekher did a demo of Banias on a reference board; the demo showed the well-known 3DMark benchtest, with a well-rendered, smoothly animated dragon flying over a mediaeval village. Response from wireless enthusiastis in the auditorium was not enthusiastic: "Why would I want to be able to run games 3D? I need battery life!"

What I really want is a generation of PCs which recognise reality. Reality is that I have to travel with two batteries and a charger and swap the batteries over. Today's PCs don't come with separate chargers, unless you count the ferocious way they charge for spare batteries - pricing is punitive. And if you want to swap batteries, you have to close the machine right down; they don't tolerate even a short time without a battery, without restarting. Also, there must be a way of switching from the big colour, backlit screen to a small monochrome display for note-taking work?

There's no magic on the way with battery technology so - let's adjust our perceptions to cope with what we have.