Intel To Pay Up To $1 Million Bounty For Sexy, Small, Stylish PCs

Looking to evolve the “big, beige box” and help bring to market more stylish, small, quiet and cool-running PCs perfect for any room in the home, Intel announced the Intel® Core™ Processor Challenge. The contest will award up to $1 million in prizes to the PC designer and manufacturer that designs and builds the smallest and most stylish home PCs powered by Intel® Viiv™ technology, Intel’s premium brand for in-home, media-optimized PCs featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Systems will be evaluated on attributes of style, acoustics, functionality and features.

“Our intent with the Intel Core Processor Challenge is to think outside of the box -- think sexy, small and sleek PCs optimized for multimedia entertainment – and we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said Eric Kim, vice president and general manager, Intel’s Digital Home Group. Consumers today make home PC purchase decisions based on more than just price and features; they also consider the size, shape and style.Ultimately we want to see more stylish and smaller PCs that have the performance and power efficiency thanks to Intel Core 2 Duo processors, as well as the essential multimedia capabilities that Intel Viiv technology delivers, making them a great entertainment system for any room in the home.”

The Intel Core Processor Challenge is open to PC designers and manufacturers worldwide. Intel will award the grand prize winner with up to $300,000 to help enable the mass production of the winning system and $400,000 for co-marketing activities with Intel around the winning system. The first-place winner will receive up to $300,000 to help enable the mass production of their winning system.

Systems submitted for the challenge will be rated early next year by a distinguished panel of judges, including IDEO Founder and Chairman David Kelley, PC Magazine Chief Content Officer Michael Miller, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini, and GQ magazine Associate Editor Kevin Sintumuang. Collectively, the panel brings expertise in technology, design and style. The winner is expected to be announced at the Intel Developer Forum scheduled for March 20-22, 2007 in San Francisco.

Companies may submit up to five different and original designs based on Intel Viiv technology with Intel Core 2 Duo processors for the Intel Core Processor Challenge. Intel Core 2 Duo processors have two cores – or computing “brains” – that can handle multiple tasks in less time while consuming less power, which has a major impact on a PC’s size, shape, power requirements and noise.

When combined with Intel Viiv technology, these dual-core chips improve viewing and playing back high-definition video, speed up conversion of songs into a digital format so they can be uploaded onto an MP3 player, and compress personal videos in less time.These processors also can operate smoother when multiple applications are running or when multiple people are using the same PC. For example, Dad can easily play a high-definition video while at the same time convert and stream a different video that his son wants to watch from the same PC to a digital media adapter connected to the TV in another room. Mom can even still record her favorite TV show in the background to watch at a later time without upsetting her husband and son’s activities.

Systems submitted for the challenge must be fully functional and cannot be in the market prior to March 2007.

Intel, the Intel logo, Core and Intel Viiv are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

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