ARM debuts Sparrow multicore netbook processor
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Feb 16th 2009 3:03PM
posted Feb 16th 2009 3:03PM
We've had our eyes peeled for ARM Cortex-based netbook news, and now among the action this week at MWC '09 we're getting our first look at Sparrow, a Cortex A9 processor aimed squarely at netbook manufacturers. This is a multi-core update to the Cortex A8 (processor of choice for the Palm Pre and Pandora), and it's been speculated that this could be the processor for the next generation iPhone, with "at least triple the computing power of the ARM11 processors found in the [current] iPhone and T-Mobile G1." Toshiba, Pegatron and Wistron are all said to be showing demos of their ARM-powered netbooks at the conference this year, with a company spokesman saying that Ubuntu for ARM will go public in April, with Sparrow phones coming to market sometime in 2010. Additionally, companies like Adobe, On2, and Symbian are said to be "tuning their apps to run on the latest cores from ARM" as we speak.[Via Gadget Mix, Mac Rumors]
that's exciting.
Oh really? It will handle 720p video?
...So? Tegra handled 1080p a year ago. This year they're expected to appear in actual devices.
OMAP3 was "announced" in 2007, it's been shipping since mid-2008, and handles 720p just fine. Get back to me when Tegra actually ships something.
iPhone (2,1) Anyone?
"it's been speculated that this could be the processor for the next generation iPhone"
not gonna happen. Apple bought chip maker PA SEMI last year and it will use that expertise for low power mobile device processors for Iphone, Ipods,etc
http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/23/apple-buys-pasemi-tech-ebiz-cz_eb_0422apple.html
if you remember, SYNAPTICS used to make the "click-wheel" in the Ipods, then Apple made them themselves in-house and cut SYNAPTICS out of the loop.
result=Apple has more profit and control over device.
Apple can now design AND make it's own mobile CPU's. where do you think they're going to be used?
There is plenty of speculation around that Apple is using PA semi expertise to make ARM based processors. Plus the fact the New York times recently reported that a senior Apple (former PA semi) engineer listed his current job as an Senior ARM architect on linkedin.
LISTEN... ARM CPUs with (single) Cortex-A8 cores are just now shipping (Palm Pre is the first)... Actual production CPUs using the Cortex-A9 (like the T.I. OMAP4 series) are not even sampling yet and won't be in production until the 2nd half of 2010 and in actual products 4Q 2010 at the earliest...
p3nguin, I think you're wrong. Taking a clickwheel in-house is a simple thing. Designing a whole new chip architecture is something else entirely.
I'm not doubting the skill of the people at (fab-less) PA Semi, but you have to remember that Apple was one of the original founders of ARM (along with Acorn), and (as far as I am aware) is still a shareholder.
What ARM don't do is the system on a chip. They'll license the ARM core to people to form the basis of SOAC -- which is where PA Semi comes in. Apple will still need someone to fab the chips though.
Personally, I'm pretty excited about this. Atom is a pretty low tech solution to the low power chip problem.
I really want to see a GOOD competitor for Intel.... It just doesen't seem Right taht Intel is jsut winning EVERYWHERE in the CPU market.. I want to see some AMD Action!!!!
Amd used to be on the same level with Intel... but now.. FAIL I hold my hopes up for VIA and ARM !!!
AMD competes with Intel directly in every segment except ultra high end, and even then AMDs PII 940 can stand its own against the 2.66ghz I7 chip. Maybe youre just not up on the market.
Athlon Neo (netbook platform) is arriving very soon.
Phenom II X4's and X3's are very competitive with Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad and low end i7
Turion X2 isn't doing as well in the laptop space, but the 45nm shrink is close and sure to level the playing field.
They are pretty competitive :)
"Maybe youre just not up on the market. "
Uh, you're the one who thinks AMD is still legitimate competition for Intel.
AMD's Geode used to be the top performing low power processor. Now that they have closed up production, there really isn't much of a replacement in near sight.
The G1 uses a ARM processor??????? Qualcomm......... :-P
The qualcomm MSM72xx chips have ARM11 cores.
ARM is an architecture, intel used to make ARM chips under XScale, but sold it to Marvell
Exactly. Think of it like x86 - Intel, AMD, and VIA all make x86 chips with very different designs.
Except ARM doesn't make any chips, they just make designs, and sell them to other companies to use in their own system-on-chip designs. Which doesn't really happen in the x86 world.
Some companies just license the instruction set, and make their own compatible design (DEC with the StrongARM, Intel with the XScale, Marvell with the XScale PXA300, etc., etc.) like what happens in the x86 world.
The problem is, that 90% of people (totally made up statistic) don't want any alternate OS on their computer/ netbook. So for the more technical people on here that want Ubuntu or something, ARM is fine, but for the tons of people who are returning Linux netbooks back to stores, it's not an option.
But it could run Windows Mobile, and ARM could always hit a critical mass for MS to create a W7 Embedded version for it or something... (Although, that doesn't solve the x86 app problem, but...)
you forget that MS doesn't know how to port its OS to anything... failing to do so for alpha and windows CE isn't really windows
Technically, the IA-32 (read: x86) version of Windows NT is a port from the (unreleased) i860 version. ;)
And, x64 and Itanium are technically ports. Yes, there's a hell of a lot of pain in x64, and the Itanium failed, but it wasn't because of the Windows port sucking.
(And, the only reason the Alpha port failed was market forces, Compaq didn't care about Alpha all that much, and stopped having MS port Windows to it.)
How long till we see a netbook sporting one of these?
The iPhone 3G struggles with battery consumption. I bet Apple is also trying really hard to make it slimmer... so a larger battery would be a hard sell. How does Sparrow's power consumption with the iPhone's current processor?
I wonder if Intel could make some kind of multi-core processor, with an ARM core and an x86 core on the same die.
So you'd have to have an operating system that's twice as large? Both x86 and armel binaries? I don't think so.
What would be the point of that?
> [...] Sparrow [...]
*Captain* Jack Sparrow!!!!