2004 MA XIM 13 UMPC
J
ust when you thought your Wi-Fi notebook com-
puter or wireless home network was cutting-edge
technology, along comes something new, threatening
to make it obsolete. The Next Big Thing on the hype
cycle is WiMax.
WiMax is the friendly marketing name for wire-
less broadband networking based on the IEEE 802.
standard, much as Wi-Fi and Wireless-G are marketing
names for broadband wireless networking based on
IEEE 802.11b/g. WiMax has been kicking around in stan-
dards committees for three years, but it’s getting more
attention now because Intel and other major companies
are supporting it with real products. Intel recently
announced a new WiMax chip code-named Rosedale
tha t could cut the cost of WiMax transceivers in half.
Some pundits are touting WiMax as a replace-
ment for Wi-Fi, DSL, cable modems, residual dial-up
connections, and the use of third-generation (3G) cell-
phone networks for data traffic. Of course, anything
new is hyped to the hilt at first. Usually, the optimistic
forecasts grow more realistic in the face of technical
obstacles, market resistance, or hidden costs. So it
will go with WiMax.
One technical obstacle is radio-frequency spec-
trum. WiMax is scattered all over the ether, from
the 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz licensed bands to some unli-
censed bands at 5.8GHz and higher. Higher-frequency
spectrum is more readily available, but the signals
have less range and penetration. In the higher bands,
WiMax signals may reach only a mile or so and
penetrate only one wall of a building, which limits
its usefulness as a wired network replacement in
crowded cities. Still, a one-mile radius is much bigger
than a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Spectrum reallocation could significantly boost
WiMax’s popularity. WiMax backers are casting hun-
gry eyes on sub-1GHz frequencies, like the 700MHz
band, where the transition to digital TV could free
up some of the UHF-TV spectrum. At 700MHz, WiMax
could reach 30 miles or more, and deep into buildings,
making it a serious contender for metropolitan-area
wireless broadband. To reach anywhere near that
range and depth now, WiMax data rates would likely
plunge to much slower rates than Wi-Fi’s.
Market resistance could come from Wi-Fi users
who shun a new wireless standard, but cost cutting
could overcome the heebie-jeebies. Eventually, a
single chip could integrate both WiMax and Wi-Fi,
allowing users to access either network. But that’s
years away. Although Intel says its Rosedale chip will
slash the cost of a WiMax transceiver in half, the cost
is still upwards of $200. WiMax looks promising, but
existing standards are safe for the time being.Why WiMax?
Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and
now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.▼▼FAST FORWARD BY^ TOM R. HALFHILL
Quick Start
D
ual-core systems are expected
to be the next badge of high-
level PC performance as both
AMD and Intel search for ways to
exploit shrinking circuits while keep-
ing power consumption and heat
under control. Instead of building
processors with single computing
cores that run at 10GHz, the goal is
to build CPUs with two independent
cores running at 5GHz, or four cores
running at 3GHz.
AMD first slapped Intel’s face by
showing off a system running four
dual-core Opteron CPUs using the
company’s newly minted 90nm pro-
cess. The dual-core Opterons share the
chip’s on-die memory controller and
HyperTransport links, but each
core has its own allotment of
1MB L2 cache. AMD says
that when introduced
next year, the dual-
cores will drop into
existing Socket 940
server and workstation
motherboards provided
the motherboards sup-
port 90nm processors.
A week later, an indig-
nant Intel struck back by
showing off a dual-core
processor desktop machine.
Intel was far more secretive
than AMD on the specificfeatures of the CPU, but did say the
chip was running on the 915 chipset,
which implies that the new chip is
based on Prescott. Many speculated
that Intel’s first dual-core CPUs would
be based on the Pentium M core.
Both companies expect to face off
with dual-core CPUs in 2005.WARNING: Key2Audio has
been known to cause Macs—and
sometimes PCs—to crash, a fact that
even Sony acknowledges. D’oh!
My game won’t launch
because I’ve got a virtual
drive installed!
PERPETRATOR: SAFEDISC
SafeDisc, the most popular type
of copy protection for PC games,
isn’t just a single technology—it’s a
bundle of them that are constantly
being updated, modifi ed, and
enhanced with newer technology,
playing a leap-frog game with
aggressive pirates as they crack each
successive version. This means that
how it works is a closely guarded
secret that is routinely made
obsolete. But we do know that
SafeDisc-protected games scan your
PC for evidence of virtual drives,
which are used by some miscreants
to mount pirated disc images
downloaded from the net.
WARNING: SafeDisc now also
includes “SilentAlarm” technology.
Previously called “Fade,”
SilentAlarm detects alterations to
game code that could represent
hacking, and consequently degrades
the gameplay so guns no longer
aim correctly and cars gradually
deteriorate until they drive like 20-
year-old Yugos. Brilliant!AMD’s and Intel’s Dueling Dual CPUs
Both chipmakers show off dual-core platforms
NOVEMBER 2004 MA XIMUMPC 15
AMD says “four is more.”
We agree.