It’s been a long week here at SlashGear with the build up to Christmas and Cyber Monday shopping and deals. We learned this week that the DoD had ordered 2,200 PS3 consoles to beef up their PS3 powered super computer. The PS3’s are cheaper than buying the Cell processors themselves it seems.
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MSI's rumored plans to corner the Pine Trail netbook market this month look to have been put on hold, with the company named as one of four firms - the others being ASUS, Acer and Lenovo - set to launch Atom N450 based models on January 11th. The new timescale apparently complies with Intel's launch schedule, with the N450 set to officially debut on January 10th, ahead of the Atom N470 processor's arrival in March 2010.
We’re only now seeing the first Pineview netbooks – based on Intel’s next-gen Atom platform – begin to show themselves, but details are already emerging about the silicon company’s intentions for the platform after that. Come 2011, say Fudzilla, Intel are expected to out Cedarview, a 32nm processor with a new, DDR3-compatible memory controller.
That DDR3 compatibility is particularly interesting, as it will put Atom’s RAM support on a par with what Intel’s Core i7 – Bloomfield processors can utilize. However Intel will limit supported memory to single-channel sticks, though you’ll at least be able to use two DIMMs; that, say Fuzdilla, is confirmed for the nettop platform, but it’s likely to be the same situation for netbooks.
It’s no ThinkPad netbook, but Lenovo’s latest IdeaPad ultraportable – as helpfully previewed by our camera-fumbling friends at the FCC – does at least have an unusual CPU to maintain our interest. The FL5-B3 – which we’re guessing is not going to be the netbook’s final name – uses a 1.66GHz Intel Pineview processor, presumably the Atom N450, paired with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive. While they’re still minimal specs in the notebook world, after what seems like a lifetime of half that memory and a meager 160GB of storage they’re very welcome.
If you’ve dipped even the tiniest of toes into the tech world this past twelve months, you’ll likely have noticed the cookie-cutter spec sheets for netbooks. Intel and Microsoft’s policies on exactly how big a hard-drive, how much RAM and other elements of a netbook’s make-up have hamstrung what could’ve potentially been a hugely innovative segment into little more than a matter of aesthetics. Unfortunately neither company plans to lift those regulations any time soon, but we’re hearing at least that with the advent of the Intel Atom N470 the bar will be raised somewhat.
The first examples of Nokia’s Booklet 3G netbook are yet to drop into buyers’ hands, but according to leaks fizzing out of Taiwan the Finns are already discussing orders for their second-gen model. Notorious rumor-monger Economic Daily News has suggested that a new Booklet 3G with updated specifications is expected to be released in 2010, a statement that is, frankly, stating the obvious. However, reading between the lines we’d expect any updated netbook from Nokia to take advantage of Intel’s upcoming Pine Trail processors, such as the Atom N450, and we do know a little about that CPU’s release schedule.
Last we heard, the rumor-pipes were whistling that Intel planned to officially out their Atom N450 processor in Q1 2010. Now, Fudzilla are reporting that the actual launch date for the 1.66GHz chip will be January 3rd, and in fact be a significant day on the Intel calendar for several new chipset arrivals.
The wire has been pretty barren when it comes to word of ASUS’ upcoming 10.2-inch convertible touchscreen netbook, the Eee PC T101H. Last we heard, ASUS had pushed its release back until September “at the earliest” and were watching sales performance of the T91 before finally green-lighting the project; now, according to NetbookNews’ sources, the T101H will make its official debut at CES 2010, complete with Intel’s next-gen Atom N450 1.66GHz processor.
Intel’s Pine Trail Atom refresh wasn’t predicted to see any products actually arrive on shelves until Q1 2010, but that wasn’t counting on the motivation of Shanzai producers in China. The first all-in-one nettop using the 1.66GHz dual-core Intel Atom D510 processor has emerged, the KND K1850, with an 18.6-inch display, 2GB of RAM, 250GB hard-drive and a DVD drive.
The Intel Atom N450 release date controversy continues, and this time there’s a second processor that’s apparently being brought along for the ride. Despite Intel’s protestations to the contrary, the 1.66GHz N450 – the replacement for the N270 chip currently found in most netbooks – is still on track for a launch in Q1 2010, where it will apparently be accompanied with a 1.83GHz Atom N470.
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