Lenovo goes with Atheros rather than Intel

Rethink IT, March, 2005

Lenovo, the Chinese PC maker that is to take over IBM's PC business (if US federal regulators do not scupper the deal), has chosen Atheros chips for its own range of laptops in preference to Intel's Centrino, which is dominant in the notebook market. Although the decision does not signify choices for the IBM line, which currently features Centrino, one reason for Lenovo's preference may be Intel's halfhearted support for Linux in its wireless chipset. Lenovo's PC range is highly Linux oriented as the open source operating system is widely used in China.

The huge Chinese market, and the need to build a strong relationship with Lenovo in anticipation of its IBM deal, may have been considerations in changing Intel's approach to Linux in the new generation of Centrino, Last month, the chip giant allowed Linux laptops to sport the Centrino brand for the first time.

Intel says the reason for the change is that, with the release of the 2.6.8 Linux kernel, the power management abilities now meet Intel's requirements for Centrino notebook battery life. It argues that, without this assurance, the brand could be compromised if users were disappointed with battery life.

Intel has hung back on Linux in its wireless activities, despite being a strong supporter of the OS in other areas. It did not release prototype Linux drivers until over a year after the initial Centrino launch, and was even more hesitant to offer an open source driver, citing fears for its intellectual property.

The new version of Centrino, Sonoma, will support Linux within 30 days, and that support will cover both the dual-band Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 networking chip for 802.11b/g wireless networks and the tri-band Pro/Wireless 2915 chip for 802.11a/b/g networks.

Meanwhile, the Atheros Lenovo deal is a strong win for the chipmaken Lenovo will use its single-chip 802.11 g solution and Chang Cheng, R&D director at the PC maker, claims it is seeing high demand for 54Mbps Wi-Fi in China.