Chicago (IL) - Intel is currently finalizing its new notebook platform, code-named "Santa Rosa." Sources told TG Daily that the platform is on track for a May release and it looks like that it will come with a quite capable graphics engine. We hear that the Crestline chipset, core of Santa Rosa, will be DirectX 10 compatible.

Some integrated graphics chipsets (IGCs) have been able to support Microsoft's Vista AeroGlass interface much earlier than many had anticipated and it appears that Intel will be taking the next major technology hurdle in May. Industry sources told TG Daily that the GM965 Crestline chipset will be able to run DirectX 10 applications. DirectX 10 apparently will be making its way into the mainstream quickly and allow IGC-based mobile computers to catch up with the latest games and multimedia faster than in the past.

Intel's DirectX 10 platform currently includes second-generation Core 2 Duo 7000-series processor based on the Merom core and FSB800. The GM965 chipset continues to take a shared memory approach and will occupy between 8 and 64 MB of the total system memory for the graphics engine.

Intel will launch four FSB800 processors in May, including the T7100 (1.8 GHz), T7300 (2.0 GHz), T7500 (2.2 GHz) and T7600 (2.4 GHz). There will also be two low-voltage versions (L7500, 1.6 GHz; L7300, 1.4 GHz) that will follow later.