Intel has revised the specification of its Edison PC, admitting that it will no longer squeeze into an SD card-sized shell.
The chip firm showed off the Edison PC at CES in January, promising to deliver an SD card-sized computer built on its new Quark system-on-a-chip.
Now, Intel is moving the goalposts. Quark has been substituted for a 22nm Atom processor, with Intel hinting that Quark just wasn't powerful enough. "While we work to extend the Intel Quark SoC family with multi-core offerings, we’ve prioritized bringing the board powered by the 22nm Silvermont dual-core Intel Atom SOC to market first to best meet a broad range of market needs," Intel's vice president, Michael Bell, wrote on the Intel blog.
"Offering a dual-core, dual-threaded CPU at 500MHz with an additional MCU and over 30 I/O interfaces via a small 70-pin connector, the product will offer solid performance for wearable or small form factor device creators."
Bringing in the heftier processor appears to have scuppered Intel's plans to deliver the PC in a memory card-sized format, with Bell now claiming the device will be "slightly larger than an SD card".
In truth, the SD card claim was little more than headline bait in the first place, and a small bump in size will likely make no substantive difference to Edison's potential applications in the wearables market.
Indeed, it seems likely Intel has gone back to the drawing board after consulting with potential customers. "Intel Edison will provide more value for our customers by simplifying the design process for the companies creating the designs, increasing the durability and providing additional cost savings in comparison to building for an SD form factor," Bell writes.
Edison is still set to arrive this summer.
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