The Sony PlayStation contains a chip more powerful than one in a Sun workstation.
So Microsoft actually got the chip that Sony helped design before Sony did.
In the prior device, Sony used a specialized chip that it developed along with International Business Machines Corp.
The chip is separate from the technology Sony currently relies upon for its PlayStation 3, known as the Cell chip, which was developed jointly with International Business Machines Corp.
Accommodating a 35mm sensor, the same chip that ships in Sony's a99 DSLR, in such a small housing meant going with a fixed 35mm lens.
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The Sony -ibm- Toshiba Cell chip has nine miniature processing units.
Sony also hopes to use the Cell chip in high-definition televisions, music players and a range of household electronics.
Sony currently relies on a technology called the Cell chip, which was developed jointly with International Business Machines Corp.
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However, Sony has bigger plans for the console and the Cell chip.
Sony worked with IBM and IBM used a version of the chip that they build into some of their mainframes and super computers, but then they actually added enhancements to it.
As a standalone unit, the Sony XBR-84X900 TV already upscales all video inputs, including the more than 7, 000 Blu-ray Disc titles currently in distribution, to a near-4K resolution through the use of Sony's proprietary 4K X-Reality PRO three-chip picture engine.
Microsoft was interested and contracted with IBM for their own chip, to be built around the core that IBM was still building with Sony.
Sony is currently locked in a battle with Toshiba, which, despite helping to develop the Cell chip, is pushing an alternative DVD standard.
PS2's central processor, a 128-bit microprocessor developed by Sony and Toshiba, has twice the raw number-crunching power of Intel's most advanced Pentium chip used in professional desktop computers.
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