Sony will not include Intel Turbo Memory technology in their line of VAIO notebooks scheduled for release this summer, because Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system is not currently Turbo Memory compatible, the computer maker’s representative announced. On the other side, Microsoft has denied Sony’s claims.
Turbo Memory, codenamed “Robson”, is a flash memory-based feature built in Intel’s new “Santa Rosa” notebook platform. The “Robson” is designed to speed up system’s boot time and application loading by preloading data on a flash memory. Sony says that the current release of Vista supports neither Intel’s Turbo Memory technology nor hybrid hard drives, which are a combination of a standard HDD and flash memory. Product specialist for the Sony VAIO series David Spaeth claims the omission of support for Turbo Memory and hybrid hard disk drives in the current release of Vista arose during the finalization of this operating system.
“Microsoft sat down and said ‘OK, to get Vista into the market, what are the really important parts of the software we need for launch?’ They had to cross out or skip some parts of the OS, and one of these things was the support of this third-stage memory,” Spaeth says.
He added that Sony would probably release laptops with Intel Turbo Memory after Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) appears towards the end of this year.
But, Microsoft told ZDNet.co.uk that Sony’s claims were not correct.
“Windows Vista supports Intel’s Turbo Memory, and Microsoft and Intel have worked together to ensure that Turbo Memory works with Windows Vista technologies that support intelligent NVRAM cache management: SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive,” a statement from the company read.
Recently Hewlett-Packard also announced it will not use Intel Turbo Memory, since it “doesn’t give you a lotâ€.