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What to Expect at IDF San Francisco

This year's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco will provide the processor giant with plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the technologies it hopes will drive PCs over the next year. Here's some of what we expect to see at the show.

September 10, 2012

What does the next year have in store for Intel? The company that supplies processors and chipset technologies for millions of computers all over the world will attempt to answer that question this week at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), to be held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Moscone West in San Francisco.

Hardware and software engineers from all over the country and the world will attend IDF to get a first-hand look at Intel's up-and-coming technologies, and immerse themselves in strategies for delivering them to computer users everywhere. PCMag.com will be on the scene, reporting on the specific developments and the larger trends at play, but here's a broader look at some of the news you can expect to come out of the show.

Haswell. It's traditional for Intel to release the deep-dive details of its newest processor technology developments at IDF, regardless of whether that represents a "tick" (a shrinking of the process technology) or a "tock" (a new microarchitecture design), and things will be no different in 2012.  A major focus of attention will undoubtedly be Intel's latest "tock": the next-generation 22nm microarchitecture, to be officially called "fourth-generation Core" but code-named "Haswell" (in contrast to the and designs). Intel will explain how Haswell will increase performance (in everyday processing and media-specific applications), reduce energy consumption, and offer better graphics and expanded support for upcoming technologies.  Intel engineers may even offer real-world, hands-on demonstrations of Haswell; if they do, we'll be there to see how it measures up to Ivy Bridge.

Ultrabooks. Intel made a heavy push for , and the hype about the new category of super-sleek and energy-efficient laptops hasn't died down since. (They were at the center of Intel's activity at , as well.) So if ultrabooks are here to stay, at least for another year, it's a sure bet that Intel will spend a lot of time talking about them at IDF this year. In addition to a lot of data about how far the segment has already come in a relatively short time, we'll undoubtedly hear about where ultrabooks are poised to go next, how they'll get there, and how those advances will gradually spread to the rest of the PC industry. Business and gaming would seem to be major areas for expansion, but with storage, performance, and reliability key considerations for both, Intel will need to make the case that these systems don't fall short in those areas.

All-in-Ones. Just as ultrabooks represent a major revolution in the way we think about laptops, all-in-one systems seem to be where the desktop market (or at least a significant chunk of it) is heading.  For quite a while, these systems have existed as something of an amalgam of desktop and laptop hardware, trying to combine the power of the former with the relatively diminutive nature of the latter, and frequently meeting with mixed success (at least when the system in question is not an ). If this category is to continue it will need some significant attention, and what Intel will have to say about it has the potential to be very interesting. The company will focus on new ways to design all-in-ones, and what users can expect from upcoming versions. Gesture, touch, and voice commands will factor into the all-in-one systems of the future, as will larger screens that make the computers usable by multiple people at once. Changes like these could send all-in-ones in an exciting new direction, but whether Intel will provide them with enough of a boost to get there within the next year remains to be seen.

Windows 8. Whatever you may think about the upcoming new version of Microsoft's ubiquitous operating system, it's going to affect the industry in ways large and small—and IDF will give us an early sample of what's in store. Optimizing everything for Windows 8 is a chief concern of pretty much every hardware manufacturer out there, and Intel, more than any other, cannot be immune.  Intel will address Haswell's integrated graphics system, laptop battery life, software, and security as major coverage areas that will provide vital for the hardware behemoth and the software titan. Though we might think we understand everything that Windows 8 means for computers, we'll only really understand the full implications of the release once we see how it interacts with Intel's products.

Security. changed the game as far as processors were concerned, making it more likely than ever that serious security would be baked into the hardware at the most elemental levels. The two companies have made major strides so far, most recently in , and IDF is a prime opportunity for outlining their next steps. Representatives from Intel and McAfee should be on hand to explain what they're doing and how it will benefit users, whether from the business, consumer, embedded, or data center sectors.

For more, see the IDF photo blog below.