David Flynn04 June 2009, 3:37 PM
Windows 7 Home Premium is not “the right solution” for netbooks, says Intel, so its forthcoming Pineview processors will be tested only for Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic.
Computex 2009 | Want to install any version of Windows 7 above Home Basic on your next netbook? Do so at your own risk, says Intel, because the forthcoming
Pineview processor has been validated only for the entry-level Windows 7 editions of Starter and Home Basic.
“We are not going to validate it with Home Premium because we don’t believe it’s the right solution (for a netbook)” says Mooly Eden, vice-president and general manager of Intel’s Mobile Platforms Group.
“From the usage model, for what we believe the netbook category needs to serve, we believe the Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic will give you the right experience” Eden told APCmag.
“If somebody wants to do Premium he can do Premium, we don’t forbid it. It just means that we didn’t validate it, if there’ll be a bug or there will not be a bug...if you want to take responsibility then the responsibility is yours.”
The process of validation refers to intensive testing of the processor to ensure compatibility with both the operating system and applications. “You take many many systems, run random tests to see all the things that can happen and to see that the system works” Eden explains. “You just torture the systems to death.”
“You also do targeted validation where you try to create intentionally all kinds of things, you try to do this while this event is happening. We run all kinds of combinations of applications and opening windows to stress the system to the limit to see if it’s failing or passing, so you make sure you’ve got no surprises.”
“Validation today is as complicated and as important as the design itself” Eden says. “It’s very complicated. It’s a major effort we invest in to make sure (the processor) is working.”
David Flynn is attending Computex 2009 as a guest of Intel.