New Atom Netbooks coming for CES?

Imagine the HP Mini 311 with a new Atom...

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

With CES coming in January and Windows 7 computers already everywhere to be found, a casual observer might assume that Vegas' annual consumer electronics extravaganza might not be as exciting for laptops. For Netbooks, at least, that seems to be completely untrue. Although Netbooks have seen an across-the-board upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 and, in some instances, boosts like HD-resolution screens, added RAM, and discrete Nvidia GPUs, Netbooks still tend to run variants of the same N270/280 Atom processor we've seen since 2008.

Intel has been readying its newer Atoms, including a dual-core D510, for a while, but a rumor of a leaked document suggests that Intel might be unveiling the new Atom N450 (the successor to the N270), and even new Netbooks and Nettops containing it, at CES. The report also suggests a possibly quick decommissioning of the old Atom N270s. Intel's new Atoms are supposed to provide better battery life as well as smoother video playback.

We've already found some great new Netbooks recently (check our 2009 Holiday Tech Guide for suggestions), and this should only drive the new wave of Netbooks ever forward.

We're excited about seeing some of these future Netbooks. As long as they stay affordable, that is.

(Via Engadget)

[Persico06]

Thanks for the heads up Scott, I've been shoppin around for a netbook and I was pretty firm on a ASUS Eee PC Seashell: Intel Atom V280 @ 1.66GHz, CPU FSB 667MHz L2 Cache 512KB, 2GB Memory, a 320 HDD, Chipset Mobile Intel 945GM Express, Graphics Intel GMA 950 intergrated with Windows 7 Home Premium for $479.99 on Newegg, but I was worried the CPU might be upgraded soon, now I'll wait, thanks.

[C433Z]

HP 311 with dual core atom... sweeeet :)

[DMBoricua]

I do hope netbooks get a little more performance boost. I use my mom's Acer aspire netbook-like laptop that has a screen of 11 inches, 2GB of RAM, everything slightly higher performing than a normal netbook and I STILL find the computer to be slow and freezes a bit at times just web browsing. If thats the case I can't imagine using a Netbook for ANYTHING. And it is an absolute brand new computer.

[jpmccloud01]

The Netbook is just a sub notebook without a dvd drive and sub par performance even the amd neo with its ati graphics is still just a low grade notebook. The fact that intel which has better performance is putting out new netbook atom cpu' s doesn't change the fact that netbooks only benefit is size. I'd rather be in a 12 to 13 inch laptop with a centrino core2 solo or AMD turon processor at just 4 to 5 hundred dollars. There faster better graphics still small and at least get a lot more ram, HD and a dvd burner of and up to 5 hrs battery life

[brieweb]

I have a Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu optimized for the Atom and it's already smokin' fast. I suppose that power consumption could be improved, but I wonder how much energy the new integrated CPU/GPU will save over the existing configuration.