January 21, 2000 Web posted at: 10:17 a.m. EST (1517 GMT) by James Niccolai

From...

SAN FRANCISCO (IDG) -- The new Crusoe processors unveiled Wednesday by secretive start-up Transmeta could spawn a host of high-performance notebooks that weigh only a few pounds and offer battery life to die for. Then again, they might not. Analysts said Wednesday it's too early to be sure.

After keeping its operations secret for four and a half years, Transmeta officials released the first two members in a family of microprocessors called Crusoe, which are designed to power notebook computers and smaller mobile devices that hook up to the Internet.

	ALSO
Analysis: Crusoe is a CPU for the road Transmeta unveils resourceful Crusoe chip
	MESSAGE BOARD
Transmeta

One of the chips, aimed at ultraportable notebooks, runs at up to 700MHz and will run a host of software types, including Microsoft Windows applications. The other, aimed at even smaller devices, runs at up to 400MHz and runs a mobile version of the Linux operating system, officials said.

Although the clock speeds look impressive, analysts said they tell only part of the story.

Transmeta's chips use an innovative technology that the company calls "code morphing," which allows Crusoe to run x86 programs by translating them into instructions that can be read by the chip's underlying hardware engine. What's not yet clear, analysts said, is how much performance will be sucked up in that translation process.

Transmeta didn't show performance figures comparing its chips with offerings from, say, Intel, noted Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with research firm Insight 64, in Saratoga, Calif. Without seeing such a side-by-side comparison, it's impossible to tell yet how Transmeta's chips will perform against Intel's mobile Pentium III, Brookwood and other analysts said.

Crusoe "may perform better or worse than an x86 chip," depending on how efficiently its code morphing technology works, said Dean McCaron, principal analyst with Mercury Research, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

S3, Transmeta team to deliver Net appliances

Download free PC software fast

IDG.net's personal news page

IDG.net's products pages

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-BusinessWorld

Year 2000 World

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

Another question that wasn't answered at the chips' unveiling is who will build systems using Transmeta's chips. The company didn't disclose the names of any manufacturing partners at this morning's launch, something that troubled Rob Enderle, vice president of Giga Information Group.

"The thing that makes me so nervous is that there are no hardware (manufacturers) here," Enderle said after the Transmeta press conference. "I don't have anything to wrap my arms around and say, Ah, yes, this is something that's coming to market soon."

Transmeta did say it is shipping samples of its products to customers, noted McCarron, who predicted the first Crusoe computer could make its debut at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas in November.

Despite the uncertainties, Transmeta has a team that carries "real pedigree," and the company has developed a product that looks impressive on paper, the analysts said. The coming months will tell if Transmeta can turn Crusoe into real player in the highly competitive microprocessor market, they said.

Enderle predicted that manufacturers will be attracted to the chip because it supports exactly the features that notebook users are looking for -- longer battery life and more lightweight machines. Transmeta's products have been developed specifically with the Internet in mind, he noted, unlike Intel's Pentium chips, which have been modified over the years to run Internet-enabled computers.

James Niccolai is senior U.S. correspondent for the IDG News Service in San Francisco.