Feature Articles

Intel Santa Rosa - The Future of Notebooks Unveiled

By Zachary Chan - 9 May 2007

Intel Turbo Memory

Intel Turbo Memory – Robson Comes Alive

When Intel talked about their secret flash memory project, codenamed Robson, it was the tip of the iceberg of flash memory related technologies to come into the market. Today, Robson, now christened Intel Turbo Memory will be launched into a world where hybrid HDDs are already a reality and the use of NAND flash memory as temporary paging or cache is nothing new anymore thanks to Vista's ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive and SuperFetch features.

If you're familiar with Vista's ReadyBoost feature and how it uses portable USB flash memory devices as additional cache, the application of Intel's Turbo Memory is the same. Turbo Memory is essentially a combination of an embedded NAND flash module and software to boost file access, boot time and overall performance. If all this somehow sounds like deja vu to you, it might be because of the recent launch of ASUS Vista Edition motherboards, where ASUS included a component called ASAP (ASUS Accelerated Propeller) onto their motherboards to take advantage of Vista ReadyBoost.

The implementation of Intel's Turbo Memory is similar to what ASUS intended with ASAP, though Intel goes about it with a different approach. While we understand that comparing Intel Turbo Memory to ASUS ASAP is like comparing apples to oranges, but in the larger scheme of things, apples and oranges are still classified as fruit.

Intel Turbo Memory features.

For ASAP, ASUS merely took advantage of Vista's new ReadyBoost feature and simply included a NAND flash module on their motherboard using a freely available USB interface. Intel's Turbo Memory however is a highly integrated flash module controlled by proprietary software to take over control of Vista ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive. This means that you cannot see or access the Turbo Memory cache, nor can you use it as an additional storage in the event that it is not used for ReadyBoost/ReadyDrive. Intel's Turbo Memory also connects through the PCI Express interface instead of regular USB to ensure (in theory at least) higher bandwidth availability and better performance than traditional USB. Intel will initially make available 512MB and 1GB Turbo Memory modules for integration, and we anticipate 2GB modules to be on their way soon enough.

Turbo Memory console is really simple. You either enable or disable control of Windows ReadyBoost or ReadyDrive.

If you use Turbo Memory for ReadyBoost, you will notice that Vista will not allow you to use other devices.

Here's more theory craft for you. Intel believes that Turbo Memory will offer a much more transparent technology to users to benefit from ReadyBoost, since there is no need to manage or connect external drives. Intel also expects Turbo Memory to use only around 1/3 the power it would have taken to use a USB drive for ReadyBoost. Best of all, Turbo Memory also works to boost OS boot time, as it contains pre-boot, BIOS level caching as well. All this certainly looks promising in theory doesn't it? But does it work? Check out our benchmark section to see our initial observations of Turbo Memory in action.

Now, we know that Turbo Memory offers a very unique hardware NAND flash caching mechanism to improve notebook platform performance. However, there are some hefty limitations to it as well. Turbo Memory was designed to work exclusively with Windows Vista, ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive and SuperFetch technologies. It will not work with any other OS, not even Windows XP. Then there are the Mac fans. As far as we know, the Mac OSX does not have a similar caching technology such as ReadyBoost and Turbo Memory has not been modified to work in this platform as well.

So, we are left wondering, will only Vista loaded Santa Rosa notebooks have Turbo Memory installed? Will Santa Rosa based MacBook Pro's come sans Turbo Memory? If all Santa Rosa notebooks are equipped with Turbo Memory, you may end up paying extra for what can be considered a situational piece of hardware that cannot be used on your OS of choice. If it is not installed, you will be left out of a performance option if you intend to someday install Vista or dual boot. A sticky situation in every way we look about it.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.