14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest details in the industry, MSI is planning to increase its presence in the netbook space by being the first to release a next-generation netbook, based on Intel's much-anticipated Pine Trail-M platform. The company will reportedly update its netbook portfolio by the end of this year, with a new model expected to be launched sometime in December. It's still early to say if the rumors are real, especially since Intel is said to have decided to reschedule the launch of the aforementioned platform for the first quarter of 2010.
In a recent news-article on Digitimes, industry sources claim that MSI plans to be the first to announce a new netbook designed on the next-generation Intel Pine Trail-M platform. Said netbook is reported to be ready for launch sometime this December, setting MSI ahead of global vendors of similar products. The launch of the netbook will be ahead of the schedule that Intel has set up for its next-generation platform, which is why some players like ASUSTeK and Acer will be introducing their new netbooks sometime in the first quarter of 2010, most likely during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
There are many details available on said platform, but the Taiwanese company is expected to adopt Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system featuring touch screen capabilities. According to previous details, the Pine Trail-M platform should enable system makers to develop thinner and more energy-efficient systems, thanks to a new dual-chip configuration, which will see the processor and graphics core, memory controller moved into the processor, while the Tiger Point chipset will deal with the system's I/O.
The Pine Trail architecture is said to enable netbooks that provide a reduction of the power consumption and improved performance. These new systems are expected to further increase the market share of netbooks in the portable PC segment.