INTEL PROJECT ATHENA FEATURES
To release a laptop as part of Project Athena, manufacturers will have to meet certain specifications, and this is what Intel has revealed so far….
5G connectivity: One of the biggest features of Project Athena will be 5G connectivity. This means that every Project Athena laptop will come with the ability to connect to 5G cellular networks (via a SIM card).
Longer battery life: Improving the battery life of laptops has been a constant struggle for manufacturers. With laptops getting ever thinner, the space to add batteries shrinks as well. Project Athena aims to drastically improve the battery life of laptops, with times between charges of around nine hours, which is a lot longer than modern Intel-based laptops. However, Snapdragon-based laptops have seen battery-life figures of beyond 24 hours.
Instant-on: Smartphones and tablets have spoiled us when it comes to devices that power up almost instantly, and Project Athena aims to bring that to Windows-based laptops and Chromebooks with Intel hardware inside. Again, Windows on ARM devices already manage this, and they also remain connected when in sleep mode, so emails can continue to be downloaded, for example, which means that when you open up the laptop, your emails are already there. We hope— and expect—Project Athena will offer similar functionality.
Intel hardware: We also expect Intel to set minimum hardware specifications, such as including SSD storage and support for Wi-Fi 6, the latest wireless networking technology.
Price-wise, we expect Intel Project Athena laptops to be pitched at the higher end of the market—much like when it created the Ultrabook category of laptops. However, Intel has talked about how Project Athena will cover a range of laptop types—and that Athena laptops will run Windows 10 and Chrome OS. Coupled with the fact that Google is one of the Project Athena partners, it looks like we’ll be getting Project Athena Chromebooks—which means there’s a good chance we’ll see affordable Athena laptops as well.