Intel will open a trio of labs which inside it will test next-generation laptops under the codename Project Athena.
The labs will be located in China’s Shanghai, Taiwan’s Taipei, and California’s Folsom, and will all be used to test hardware makers components to ensure they meet the standards of Project Athena.
Those standards involve performance and power optimisation in laptops, with Intel wanting to ensure laptop makers are delivering “a new class of advanced laptops”.
The goal is ensure a wide range of Project Athena-compliant components that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can depend on to work in more power-efficient laptops. Component manufacturers will submit their products to the Project Athena Open Labs to see if they can meet the specifications. These components can include everything from displays, audio devices, haptic feedback motors, SSDs, wireless modules and more.
By covering the whole range of components, the program should allow OEMS to easily choose components for devices that follow Project Athena specifications and more or less guarantee better power efficiency.
Project Athena is aimed toward 2020 and beyond, with future devices featuring 5G connectivity and AI in mind. But, we won’t have to wait until 2020 to get the first laptops offering Project Athena specifications.
The lab is expected to start perusing components in June, with the first Project Athena-compliant expected some point in 2020.
