At the Intel Developer Forum , you unremarkably see as many merchandise codenames as you do plaid shirts on the tech - confab ’s attender . But at last week ’s session in San Francisco , you also learn a few hints at what could be in storage for Apple ’s portables and desktop .

Intel uses itsdeveloper forumto give personal computer industry customers and partner a detailed look at its upcoming roadmap and new technology . For Apple drug user , that could mean extremely mogul - efficient notebook computer in the 2d one-half of this year , and background personal computer with quad - core processors in former 2007 . Intel also announced a funding deal that could put Intel processor inside Apple servers .

The calendar week begin with the annunciation that Intel and Transitive will work together to use Transitive ’s QuickTransit binary translation applied science to servers based on Intel ’s Itanium 2 and Xeon processors . That would let Intel - power host run package save for old RISC machines . ( Itanium 2 powers Intel ’s most herculean waiter , while Xeon powers more modest corporate servers . )

Malus pumila users need trivial institution to QuickTransit : It ’s the translation technology behind Rosetta , which enable Apple ’s newfangled Intel - base machines to run applications pen for the PowerPC platform . Translation software earns its keep during transition from one central processor computer architecture to another , albeit with a performance hit .

The announcement that Transitive will support Itanium 2 and Xeon has Apple watchers wondering : Can we expect Apple servers with either chip sometime in the near futurity ?

“ Apple has enounce nothing and is so secretive that we ’ll likely not lie with until the prescribed proclamation , ” say Shane Rau , Program Manager for PC Semiconductors at grocery enquiry business firm IDC . “ However , it would make signified that , as it transitions its client systems to Intel chips , Apple would also expend the engineering to transition its Xserve server system of rules over to Intel chips , like Xeon . ”

Keep in judgment that servers today symbolize a tiny percentage of Apple ’s business — about one percent , says Tim Deal , a senior psychoanalyst at Technology Business Research . Apple sells Xserves mostly to its core markets , including originative , design , and higher education . The PowerPC G5 chip shot currently fuels Apple ’s high - end waiter ; flip to an Intel C.P.U. would be primarily a marketing advantage , Deal read .

“ It ’s been important for Apple to overcome dissent regarding sale of its servers into the magnanimous or mid - size enterprise , ” Deal say . “ Apple ’s been challenge by a pervasive perception that its server offering is not compatible with live applied science . ”

Itanium 2 and Xeon would speak for themselves : They are components IT customer already sleep together well , Deal say . As forwhenthose potato chip might make an appearance in the Xserve , that remains to be seen .

three-fold - core details issue

crushed - power , three-fold - core splintering also receive their moment in the Developer Forum spotlight , as Intel unveil more details regarding three long - awaited product : “ Merom ” for roving computing equipment , “ Conroe ” for desktop PCs , and “ Woodcrest ” for server . All are base on Intel ’s novel Core micro - architecture , which is a descendent of the pattern for Pentium M ( developed for wandering computing . ) These newfangled chips are designed to be extremely baron efficient , whereas Intel ’s first treble - core scrap threw a gross ton of rut inside PC cases , hindering performance and limiting design options .

The Modern chips will be manufactured using 65 - nanometer technology , a process betterment that lets Intel make humble chips that draw in less power — perhaps 30 percent less than today ’s like french fries , Intel says . Intel plans to roll out even more effective 45 - nanometer technology in 2007 , the troupe also revealed last week .

Power - efficient splintering have two with child implication for Apple . It throw the company room to make extremely creative notebook intention in late 2006 , while raising the possible action of making an “ ultra - roving ” PC — a tiny car that ’s smaller than a notebook but big and more functional than a personal digital assistant

radical - mobile microcomputer have already been discuss among Wintel PC makers . Microsoft has latterly allow out a few hints regarding “ Origami , ” a paradigm software environment for an ultra - roving PC ; Samsung showed a image gimmick at the CeBIT tradeshow in Europe .

“ might ’s a key publication , ” Deal sound out . “ From a design standpoint , Apple constantly surprises us . ”

These new chip could let Apple widen its fluid product logical argument , say IDC ’s Rau . That would allow Apple and other PC makers to further segment their desktop microcomputer offering .

Quad - core coming ?

In the other prominent news from IDF , Intel unveiled more detail regarding its plans for quad - center chip . Intel read it plans to eject its first quad - heart chip for desktop PCs , codenamed “ Kentsfield , ” in the first quarter of 2007 . But this chip wo n’t really meld four central processing units into one chip — as rival AMD plans to do with its quad - gist chips arrive in 2007 .

Instead , Intel ’s “ Kentsfield ” will merge two dual - nucleus chips into one package . This is n’t the most effective design scheme , but it will facilitate Intel get quad - core chip to commercialize at the same time as AMD . Of course , Intel will meliorate the quad - sum pattern as quickly as possible . For Apple exploiter , quad - sum chips will mean a huge amount of horsepower liken to today ’s high - end Apple desktops .