PC Notebooks To Get MacBook Air Style Flash-Standby In 2012

Apple's MacBook Air could lose its super-speedy resume advantage if Intel has its way, with news that the chip company will be pushing "fast flash standby" support to PC manufacturers with the debut of the Chief River notebook processors in 2012. By shifting the standby system state from RAM to SSD storage, Fudzilla reports, Chief River based notebooks will be able to offer the same resume speed performance but with significantly reduced power consumption.

On the MacBook Air that adds up to around a month of standby time, even though the ultraportable can be opened up and ready at the desktop almost instantaneously. Although PC notebooks have offered hibernate modes for extending battery life while preserving system state, the resume time is considerably longer than from standby. However, keeping system state in RAM requires the memory be powered throughout.

Only Windows notebooks with Ivy Bridge processors, Panther Point PCH chipsets, compatible BIOS and – of course – an SSD drive will be able to take advantage of the new Intel system, with the company pushing to get more manufacturers to opt for solid-state drives as standard. The first Chief River platform notebooks are expected in the first half of 2012.