“World traveler Robinson Crusoe spent many years hidden away
on a desert island. You could say something similar for
Crusoe, the mobile Internet processor family that star-studded
Transmeta Corp. brought out from under wraps today in San
Francisco.”
“Specifically designed for mobile computers and Internet
appliances, Crusoe saves on power and size by executing most of its
operations in software, according to Transmeta. It can run
applications written for any Pentium-class X86 computer, its
inventors said, but is smaller, uses less power and costs less to
manufacture than comparable mobile Pentium processors. “If it does
what they’re saying, it would definitely be useful in the portables
market, and probably better than its competition,” said Tom
Halfhill, microprocessor analyst and senior editor of “The
Microprocessor Report.”
“Transmeta’s first two processors, the 400-MHz TM3120 and the
700-MHz TM5400, consume about one watt of power in full operation,
said company President David Ditzel. An Intel mobile processor, in
contrast, needs 10 to 15 watts to operate.”