Europe forced to wait for Crusoe PCs

Europe is facing a long wait for PCs featuring Transmeta's Crusoe chip, after hardware vendors confirmed they have no European launch plans.

Europe is facing a long wait for PCs featuring Transmeta's Crusoe chip, after hardware vendors confirmed they have no European launch plans.

Sony said this week that it will launch its Crusoe-based Vaio Picturebook laptop computers in the US in October, but has no plans to offer the machines in Europe. Sony's Transmeta-based laptop will be an ultra-portable device with a built-in digital camera, according to the company.

Thomas Reuner, an analyst at Gartner, claimed he was not surprised. "Europe is rarely first for any product introduction anywhere," he said, adding that initially Transmeta's chips would be used only in laptop computers.

"Look at AMD. It has had to establish itself in the consumer market first before breaking into the corporate market. Corporations would not switch processors without a long evaluation," he said.

Compaq said it is considering using the Crusoe chip, whereas Toshiba said it has no plans to include it in any of its products, even though it is an investor in Transmeta.

With Crusoe, notebooks can provide up to eight hours of battery life.

The chip includes Transmeta's LongRun power management technology, which enables the processor to optimise its application performance while adjusting its speed and voltage.