The next-generation Intel chips will use less for more: This answers the conundrum posed by Apple's switch from Freescale/IBM chips to Intel, in which CEO Steve Jobs said Intel's roadmap offered dramatically improved wattage to computational power ratios. Next year's mobile processor will use one-third of its predecessor's power.
This increased performance with lower power requirements makes it easier to produce lighter, longer-lived mobile devices. Intel demonstrated some running a beta of Microsoft's next consumer release, Vista, with Wi-Fi and WiMax connectivity. (Since mobile WiMax is but a glimpse in the future, I'd be curious what actual chips were onboard.)
Intel also said that it would work with Cisco to make better connections with the networking giant's access points, including using special sauce that would allow an adapter to connect to the most available AP by load (rather than the most opportunistically available), and handle VoWLAN connections more fluidly. Cisco and Intel will have to update respective systems.