CnetNews.com
Intel is launching the biggest makeover of the Atom processor since the seminal chip debuted in the spring of 2008, and consumers can expect a crush of new Netbooks to follow.
Intel said there will be more than 80 new Netbook designs–typically priced around $350–on the way, with systems coming available by January 4.
The Pine Trail design squeezes the graphics function, previously on a separate chip, onto the central processing unit, or CPU, a first for Intel. The result–by decreasing the number of chips from three to two–is a reduction in the overall chip package size by 60 percent.
Cool!
Still too slow. An original Pentium M beats this thing.
uhm these things still look bigger than and atom..
http://instantrimshot.com/
#2 only if you put winders on it..
$350 for netbook?? what happened to lower prices for these things??
Very cool indeed. That’s my company! The whole netbook market is exploding.
Netbooks are great for pedestrian use but for heavy duty, you want a real notebook. I use a netbook on the couch, at my favorite wifi enabled lunch hangout or when I go on photography outings to dump images there and view them on the go.
Make sure you buy a couple of these things. If you’re Republican, you can buy one for your wife and one for your mistress!! They’re cheap!
#2 Actually, you’re wrong but that’s OK.
I love my Atom powered netbook. It’s a 160 gb external drive that also runs XP, has wifi and does audio and video.
Thank you hhopper for posting an honest-to-God tech story.
I like John Gruber’s analogy about having a bicycle as your second car. Meaning, maybe you want a netbook as your second computer.
In other news, netbooks will still break after just a few months for no good reason.
#7
Have had my Asus for over a year now, and even dropped it a few times, still no problems.
I got an MSI Wind netbook and upgraded it to 2GB RAM. It runs Vista/7 fine. It’s no gaming system, but it’s fine for surfing, movies, and hooking up to projectors for presentations.
What I really want is an Atom powered phone. It can’t be too far off, just a few die shrinks now that the GPU is on the same chip. An x86 compatible phone could destroy the iPhone.
#9 stay tuned! I agree an x86 phone would be nice. Maybe one more turn of the Moores Law crank!
# 7 Luc said, “…netbooks will still break after just a few months for no good reason.”
Sorry you’ve had bad luck. I first bought an ASUS Eeeeeeeee shortly after they came out. I was impressed but the keyboard was just too small for my fat fingers. I gave it to my tiny girlfriend who is a real estate agent. For about 2 years now she’s been tossing it in her car and using it to show clients potential properties. Still working faultlessly. I ought the HP Mininote with it’s bigger keyboard. It works perfectly and is now the only computer I take with me for travel. I recently went to Borneo for a scuba diving holiday and followed that with a grueling upcountry trip into Laos. Nary a stutter after these harsh conditions and being bounced around in my knapsack. My one complaint is the four hours of battery life. I am tempted to buy one of these new breed but I think I’ll wait a while and see what people think when they actually go into use.
“This is the first monolithic processor with the graphics built in and the memory controller built in,”
I thought the old Cyrix MediaGX from the 1990’s, had these plus the sound card functions and PCI interface all on a single chip. Always thought that was a cool design.
3# said $350 for netbook?? what happened to lower prices for these things??
I hear that. And they keep getting bigger too. Soon netbooks will all be the size of laptops, cost as much, but without the optical drive. It’s a ploy I tell ya.
Still no 64bit? Crappy intel graphics that my old Voodoo card can still out perform? Still “shares” (read steals) system memory for video?
It’s nice to know that 15+ year old computer technology is now shunk down to the size of a postage stamp.
#13 AlanB : “Soon netbooks will all be the size of laptops, cost as much, but without the optical drive. It’s a ploy I tell ya.”
Ahhh, another satisfied Apple Air buyer.
#16 Darn it, I blew it.
Nothing is more rewarding than a conservative commending what they see as lesser patriots, a liberal. Maybe next time!
Intel and Micro$oft are the kings of unfair business practices – now even Apple has fallen under Intel’s spell. Is this the price of innovation? Their processors aren’t even that good! People – don’t run out and buy this. Instead – make the most of what you’ve got – try this http://tictacdo.com/ttd/Optimize-Your-Netbook There must be more than meets the eye – Intel has more than 85% of the mobile PC market share. Scary…
16 pedro : Buy a vowel, Pedro. That’s what we English speakers call sarcasm. Seemed to me their description of netbooks was a match for the much-ballyhooed Air.
After they were forced to pay AMD $1.25 billion you’d think they’d lay off a bit… I guess they’d find some way to write that off – and get away with it.