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)
HDMI Netbooks are landing: The S12
(Credit: Lenovo)Just when we were ready to accept the stuttery nature of our Netbook HD video playback, along come Nvidia and Lenovo at long last to change our expectations. The IdeaPad S12, arriving in August, will be the first Netbook sporting discrete graphics from the Nvidia Ion processor. With power similar to the 9400M chipset already in Apple's 13-inch MacBooks, IonNetbooks promise full-HD video output and actual gaming performance--not that we'd want to try Crysis on it anytime soon. However, according to Nvidia, Spore, Call of Duty 4, Portal, and World of Warcraft will all be very playable indeed.
The price is right, too--$499 for the Ion-packing S12, with a 12.1-inch, 1,280x800 screen and Atom N270 processor. For 50 dollars less, an Ion-free S12 can also be yours (though we don't know why you'd possibly want that). The Ion claims a 10x performance boost on existing Netbook integrated graphics with "nearly identical" power consumption. HD H264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 "won't be a problem," say Nvidia. Do we dare believe?
Available in white or black, the 1.14-inch-thick, 3.7-pound S12 has a six-cell battery, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160 GB HDD, XP Home, a 1.3-megapixel Webcam (stop us if this sounds familiar), and 802.11 b/g wireless.
Other notables: an Express Card slot, 3 USB 2.0 ports, a multitouch trackpad, HDMI port with the Ion model, a full-size keyboard, and Lenovo's Quick Start, VeriFace, and OneKey Rescue System for making backups.
For the price and the size, is this an ideal gaming Netbook? Or is it, in fact, just a variation on 12-inch notebooks? We're not even sure it matters, because for the price, it sounds like an excellent proposition indeed.
If there was any doubt about the state of solid-state drives, Computex seems to be putting it to rest.
SanDisk, TDK, and Intel, among others, are announcing new solid-state drives while Asus is launching the Eee PC 1000 with a larger-capacity drive.
SanDisk pSSD solid-state drive
(Credit: SanDisk)Solid-state drives (SSDs) are used increasingly instead of hard disk drives in small computers like the Asus Eee PC and devices like the Apple iPhone because SSDs use less power and are generally more rugged--due to the fact that they have no moving parts.
The Asus Eee PC 1000, for example, will be offered with SSDs up to 40GB in capacity, beating the 20GB SSD offered in the Eee PC 901.
With this market segment in mind, SanDisk introduced a line of solid-state drives that are designed for "netbooks"--a category of compact, low-cost notebook PCs best exemplified by the Eee PC.
The SanDisk "pSSD" (Parallel ATA solid state drive) is available in 4-, 8-, and 16-GB capacities. The device can achieve a "streaming read" speed of 39 megabytes per second and a streaming write (record) of 17MBps, according to SanDisk. These speeds compare favorably with the low-performance 1.8-inch hard disk drives used in small notebooks.
The pSSD solid-state drives are expected to be available starting in August when pricing will be announced.
TDK also launched new solid-state drives. The "HS1" series is a line of 1.8-inch solid-state drives with the Micro Serial-ATA (SATA) interface. The Micro SATA specification provides for a smaller connector for the high-speed SATA interface used widely in PCs today.
The HS1 series offers capacities of 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes, respectively. The product uses SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory. SLC-based solid-state drives are used widely, today but many SSD manufacturers are planning to move to more advanced multilevel cell (MLC) technology later this year.
Burst performance is 100MBps for reading data and 50MBps for writing data. These speeds compare favorably with 2.5-inch hard disk drives.
TDK's SSDs are now available for volume shipment at sample prices of about $1,900 for a 64GB model and about $1,400 for the 32GB model.
On Tuesday, Intel will introduce the Z-P230 Parallel ATA (PATA) series of solid-state drives. The Z-P230 "is a cost-effective storage solution designed to replace traditional hard disk drives in netbook and nettop systems, yet is four times smaller and lighter than a standard 1.8-inch hard disk drive," Intel said. The drives come in 4GB and 8GB capacities.
The Intel SSDs are being launched along with low-power Atom processors that include the N270 for netbooks and the 230 for low-cost desktops--what Intel calls nettops. The chips run at up to 1.6 GHz with an average power consumption of 2.5 watts.
Intel will also announce high-capacity solid-state drives in the second half of this year that have capacities of 80GB and 160GB.
The Atom N270 processor got buried last week under the mobile Internet device PR juggernaut. But it may prove to be more popular initially than the high-profile Atom Z5XX series for MIDs.
As previously reported, the Atom Z500, Z510, Z520, Z530, and Z540 series of processors will go into handheld-size mobile Internet devices (MIDs) such as the Lenovo IdeaPad U8. Intel promoted the Z5XX series heavily at IDF because the chipmaker needs to jump-start a new category of personal computers that fit in your pocket. Whether consumers actually need these devices is a question that will be answered later this year.
Intel Atom, Celeron segmentation
(Credit: Intel)The Atom N270 is quite different in this respect: It has a ready-made market. The N270 will go into an existing market segment--Netbooks--and will replace the popular Celeron in many cases, making this Atom potentially a high-volume chip. For example, currently, the Eee PC and Intel Classmate (technically Netbooks) use the Celeron. Versions of both these compact notebooks are slated to use the Atom. Based on Intel's description of the market, this category of Netbooks will use the N270 (see graphic).
Though the die (the actual processor inside the chip package) is the same for both the Atom Z5XX series and N270, the packaging and chipsets are different (see graphic). The N270 will use the 945GSE and 82801 (ICH7M) core logic. A version of this chipset (with 950 integrated graphics) is used in low-cost notebooks and desktops today. The Celeron has traditionally used the lower-end 915 chipset.
So, the way it shakes out is: the Atom Z5XX series for MIDs; the N270 (and upcoming processors) for Netbooks; the Celeron for low-cost notebooks. Note: the Atom Z5XX series includes a single-chip with integrated graphics called the Intel System Controller Hub.
Intel Atom N270 processor platform
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