Intel and Seagate say stop waiting (for your PC)

Do you ever feel like your PC is asking you to “take a number?”

If there is one thing the adoption of smartphones and tablets has taught us it’s that consumers’ expectation of the computing experience has dramatically changed.  There was a time when we all accepted that working with a personal computer required some level of patience (like standing in line waiting for your number to be called).  Waiting to power-on, boot-up, launch applications, open and save files all required us to wait, and we were fine with it.  Those days are long gone.

This change in personal computing can be summed up in one word: responsiveness. Users demand the same experience they have with their tablets and smartphones on their desktops and laptops, and they don’t want to sacrifice storage capacity, or pay an arm and a leg for it. This poses quite the challenge for the likes of Intel and Seagate.  How do we enable PCs (desktops and laptops) with tablet-like responsiveness while maintaining affordable price points?

We sat down with Roger Bradford who manages the capabilities marketing team at Intel for client compute to discuss how the client compute experience has changed, and where it is heading.

It could be argued that Intel has always focused on responsiveness through its processor technology improvements, but processors alone do not deliver the overall system experience users demand.  Intel had to take into consideration how the motherboard, processor, and memory interacted with the hard disk drive (HDD).

Around the same time Seagate was meeting the challenge with our 2nd generation solid state hybrid drive — Momentus XT with Adaptive Memory Technology — Intel introduced Intel® Turbo Memory, a technology that uses NAND flash to improve responsiveness.  Just as Seagate did after our first solid state hybrid drive, Intel worked to improve the technology and in 2011 launched Intel® Smart Response Technology (SRT) which can already be found in many Intel channel motherboards, Ultrabooks™ and AIO (All-In-Ones) today.  

As Roger points out, “SRT allows a lower-cost, small-capacity solid-state drive (SSD) to be used in conjunction with a low-cost, high-capacity hard disk drive, providing you with fast, SSD-like performance and large storage capacity. As a result, you have faster access to the files, applications, games, and web sites you use the most, enabling you to work and play faster than ever before.”

So, the PC market had two distinct “hybrid storage” paths to choose from: Seagate SSHDs or Intel® SRT … until now.. Seagate and Intel have joined forces to combine the benefits of Seagate SSHDs with the intelligence of Intel® SRT, delivering a solution that not only addresses the need for greater responsiveness, but clears a path for even greater innovation.

Intel is taking it a step further offering an Intel®  widget that sits on your desktop so you can monitor your storage performance, and see the real benefits of using hybrid storage technology.

So, if your PC continues to ask you to “take a number” to power-on, boot-up, launch applications, and open and save files, wait no more. Intel and Seagate aim to bring smartphone- and tablet-like experience to your PC.

 

 

2013-06-04T06:14:55+00:00

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