Intel announces plans to open three labs in Taipei, Shanghai and Folsom, California, to test components for upcoming laptops based on "Project Athena," the specification for the thin laptops of the future.
In case one needs a refresher, Project Athena is a next-gen laptop initiative Intel revealed back at CES 2019. The program is reminiscent of the Ultrabook initiative, but whereas ultrabooks merely pushed thin-and-light designs Athena is more about performance. Thus, Intel promises battery lives reaching up to 20 hours, near-instant awakening from sleep states, 5G connectivity and productivity-boosting AI technologies. In short, it is the Chipzilla take on Qualcomm-powered Always Connected laptops.
Set to start operation from June 2019, the labs will assess parts from manufacturers and developers to ensure consistency across all Project Athena laptops from different OEMs. Each lab will test components of the audio, display, controllers, haptics, SSDs and wireless variety, and following assessment Intel will provide OEMs a list of optimised components to consider throughout product development cycles.
The Project Athena Open Labs will be accepting components from OEMs, ODMs and IHVs in the "coming weeks." The first laptops based on the specification should launch next year, and we won't be surprised if Intel shows more about such devices at Computex 2019.
