Intel Reveals Dual-Core Atom 330
August 20, 2008
Intel has officially revealed information about the first of the dual-core Atoms, the Atom 330. The version mentioned is the desktop version (N330), but much of it applies to the netbook market since the chipsets, specs, etc., are so similar.
Specifications (that should be in netbooks)
- Still a 533MHz FSB
- HyperThreading still present (may look like four cores, but really two cores)
- Desktop version based on 945GC Express chipset
- GMA 950 integrated graphics
- 2GB (Maximum) of 533MHz or 667MHz DDR2 Memory
They’ve released a fact sheet about the desktop / nettop version as well.
Read more
Intel: “Atom is off to a very, very rapid start..”
August 13, 2008
If there is one company that doesn’t need convincing that the Intel Atom CPU and the netbooks it’s being utilized in are going to be successful, it’s Intel.
Reuters / InformationWeek are reporting that sales of the low voltage, low-cost CPU are much better than Intel expected, with a bit of thanks to the economic issues that have popped up over the past six months (that would help drive a low-cast laptop). The biggest factor is obviously the explosion of mobile devices using the Atom.
Intel’s Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said that it’s hard for them to tell just where the demand for the Atom is going to end up, with Intel needing to wait and see for another six months or so (it sounds like to go through a complete cycle of products).
Smith also addressed what some companies have been worried about (hurting laptop sales):
“It seems to be growing the market rather than cannibalizing existing PC sales.”
Smith also said he was not unduly concerned about Atom cannibalizing sales of its existing Core chips, but allowed that he would not mind sales of Atom eating a bit into those of its low-cost Celeron processors.
“If it’s cannibalizing from the Celeron part of the market, I’ll take that any day,” Smith said.
Read: Reuters / InformationWeek
Dual-Core Intel Atom in September?
July 24, 2008
If Fudzilla is right, a dual-core Intel Atom CPU could be introduced as soon as the end of September. An introduction date of September 21, 2008, is cited.
The Atom is in quite a few popular netbooks / sub-notebooks, such as the Acer Aspire One, Asus Eee PC 901, and MSI Wind U100.
The model number listed is the Intel Atom 330. The current single-core Atom sells for $29 while they mention that the dual-core wills ell for $43.
As they point out, it probably won’t be seen until the fourth quarter - Intel is just now catching up on the demand for single-core Atoms (and there is some debate over that, but you can at least find Atom-based netbooks at the major retailers, in stock for the most part).
Specifications:
- Intel Atom 330
- 1.6GHz
- 533MHz Front Side Bus
- 1MB L2 (2x 512KB - i.e. 512KB per core)
- Pin comatible with single-core (BGA 437)
Read: Fudzilla
Intel Expects 100 Million+ Netbooks, Nettops to Ship 2008 - 2011
June 26, 2008
Intel is very optimistic about the future of netbooks and nettops (nettops = devices smaller or more restricted than netbooks / sub-notebooks, usually without keyboards).
Optimistic enough for them to forecast that between 2008 and 2011, there will be over 45 million netbooks / sub-notebooks shipped (no prediction on how many of those will be powered by Intel’s Atom CPU/platform or any Atom successors made by Intel). They also predict 60 million of the nettops to ship.
Digitimes mentions that some of the manufacturers don’t see the nettops / MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) being nearly that successful and that netbooks will outsell them.
I think I would agree that netbooks will rule the roost and outsell MIDs/nettops - when you get into MID/nettop territory, where it’s usually a touchscreen-only interface, as well as the smaller size of them, you are getting close to iPhones and other smartphones. Netbooks offer quite a bit to most folks, given the physical keyboard and slightly larger size.
This also ties into comments made by Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini late last month about the rise of these devices.
Read: Digitimes
Intel Centrino 2 Shipping Soon
June 23, 2008
According to CNET, Intel is still scheduled to roll out the “Montevina” Centrino 2 mobile platform in about three weeks (July 14, 2008), although some parts are going to be delayed and/or released shortly thereafter.
The integrated graphics chipset (”GM”) which would be used by many of the 11.1 - 13.3-inch ultraportables will not be available until early August, with WiMax components being released later on.
The regular 45nm CPUs should be available then (and some are available now), with updated features included a 1066MHz Front Side Bus (FSB).
As far as the Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) CPUs, all we know is that they will be released “later this year”.
It’ll be interesting to see if this matches the release of the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 which is scheduled for July 14, 2008 as well.
Read: CNET
Intel CEO on Netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)
May 29, 2008
Peter Svensson with the Associated Press, published an article today where Paul Otellini, Intel’s CEO, discussed the upcoming Intel Atom CPU, as well as how Intel Corp. is reacting to the rising popularity of sub-notebooks / netbooks.
In the past, Intel was clearly about producing faster and faster CPUs. Recently they began to push power efficiency (which has helped give us incredibly powerful mainstream laptops), and now they are looking at making CPUs small, cheap and with an emphasis more on power efficiency rather than performance.
Otellini discussed the new trend and mentioned that he’s not too worried about cannibalization of higher-priced laptops (because he wants Intel to be the company who picks up the sale regardless of the level):
“I’ve not seen energy like this from our customers in a long, long time….. Everyone views this as being sort of hyperexpansive to the existing market.”
“If a higher-priced notebook isn’t substantially better and doesn’t offer more utility, shame on us… If there’s cannibalization, I’d rather be the cannibal than someone else.”
