Forbes.com
Transmeta's Unpower Trip
By David Einstein
For years the weak link in mobile computers has been the battery. It's big, it's heavy, and it lasts about as long as a double-tall latte. You start working on that spreadsheet just after the plane takes off, and by the time you're over Ohio you're out of juice and can't even play solitaire.
That could soon change. Not because of any breakthrough in battery technology, but because of a new mobile PC processor from Transmeta, the Silicon Valley upstart that has developed the most innovative chips since Frito-Lay came up with Ruffles.
Using a combination of hardware and software, Santa Clara-based Transmeta has built Crusoe, a brand of Intel-compatible chips that consume a fraction of the power required by similar processors from Intel (Nasdaq: INTC - news) and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD - news). Transmeta claims Crusoe will usher in a new generation of ultra-light notebook PCs capable of running all day without recharging.
Later this month, at the PC Expo trade show in New York, Transmeta will reveal the identities of several companies that will put the Crusoe TM5400 chip into mobile computers. Don't be surprised if the list includes Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ - news) and Sony (NYSE: SNE - news), two of the big names that joined in a recent $88 million round of financing for Transmeta.
Transmeta's hype hasn't been hurt by the fact that it cloaked itself in secrecy for five years until its coming-out party in January. Or that its initial backers included Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures as well as financier George Soros. Or that its engineering crew includes Linus Torvalds, the elusive creator of Linux.
Most of the buzz surrounding Transmeta has so far involved Internet appliances, not PCs. The young company's other Crusoe chip, the TM3120, is aimed squarely at the emerging market for Web pads, Web phones and the Web heads who use them. It's a market where, as with notebook computers, low-power chips have an inherent advantage, particularly for devices that must run on batteries.
Last week, Transmeta announced that Gateway (NYSE: GTW - news) had selected Crusoe to be the brains of the network-ready Internet Appliances it is developing with America Online (NYSE: AOL - news). While the deal wasn't unexpected--Gateway and AOL are also among Transmeta's investors--it definitely stamped the company as a potential challenger to Intel and other chipmakers in the brave new world of the Internet.
``I wouldn't be surprised to see AOL put Crusoe into set-top boxes and other kinds of Internet devices as well,'' says analyst Tim Bajarin of San Jose-based Creative Strategies.
Internet appliances haven't really arrived yet, however, and it could take several years for Web devices to get into your car and your kitchen. In the meantime, Transmeta is counting on making its mark--and a lot of money--in the market for mobile PCs.
Until now, Intel has had the notebook market pretty much to itself. Yet despite all its technological acumen, the giant chipmaker has not been able to figure out how to prolong the average battery life of a mobile computer beyond a couple of hours.
Enter Transmeta, which claims that Crusoe will let you do word processing or other straightforward computing tasks for up to eight hours on a single charge. Here's how: Intel and AMD chips, which are based on Intel's venerable x86 design, put all the computing power on the processor itself. Transmeta, on the other hand, uses ``code-morphing'' software to tell Crusoe how to handle x86 instructions. The result is a chip that needs fewer transistors and therefore consumes less power. Transmeta claims its chips suck up between one and two watts, compared to six to 16 for competing chips. The Crusoe also runs a lot cooler than its rivals. Transmeta engineers came up with a power-management system called LongRun, which lets Crusoe automatically adjust itself to deliver only enough power required for the task being done. That further reduces the strain on the computer's battery.
Transmeta chips will probably lag behind the competition in terms of raw power. They'll initially come in speeds up to 700 MHz, but the code-morphing software may rob them of some performance when running Windows applications. The company says that won't bother users, who would gladly trade a little speed for a lot of battery life.
``You can say this car's only going to go 130 miles per hour instead of 150, but it's going to get three times the miles-per-gallon,'' argues Jim Chapman, Transmeta's senior vice president of sales and marketing.
``We're going to deliver users all the performance they want,'' he says. ``We think you're going to see Crusoe dominate the new lightweight mobile PCs that will be coming out shortly.''
Sounds good, but not everyone is convinced that Transmeta can carry out its promises. One skeptic is Linley Gwennap, the respected semiconductor analyst who runs the Linley Group. He points out that the processor is only one of several components that sap power in a mobile PC. There's also the light for the screen and the hard drive, and if you use a CD-ROM you need even more power.
``You still have to run the hard drive and back-light the display,'' says Gwennap, ``so you're not going to get six to eight hours of battery life just by replacing the processor.''
And there is also the matter of Intel, which can move amazingly fast on the technology front if it sees an opportunity slipping away. The Santa Clara, Calif., giant missed the boat on the market for sub-$1,000 desktop PCs, but recovered to dominate that market with its Celeron chips. If Transmeta starts to rack up too many design wins for its mobile PC and Internet appliance chips, you can bet that Intel will strike back.
``Transmeta is off to a good start, but it's far too early to cede the Internet appliance market to them,'' says Gwennap. ``Intel's perfectly willing to let them have early design wins, but when product volume gets into the millions Intel is going to go in and fight hard.''
Welcome to the big leagues, Transmeta.