14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the delay of Intel’s mobile Atom Cedar Trail platform for low-power laptops, Acer its getting ready to deploy its army of netbooks using this architecture as an UK retailer has recently listed a new version of the ultra-slim Eee PC X101 that is powered by an Atom N2600 processor.
This chip is built using the 32nm production process and includes dual processing cores clocked at 1.6GHz with support for Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology.
This is quite a far cry from the original 1.33GHz Intel Atom N435 CPU with just 512KB of L2 cache offered in the MeeGo-running version of the Asus netbook, and should offer decent performance as well as highly improved multimedia capabilities.
These are mostly due to the new PowerVR SGX545 graphics core that Intel has introduced in the Cedarview architecture, which can support hardware decoding for MPEG2, VC1, AVC, and H.264 Full HD content as well as for Blu-ray 2.0 content.
Taking a look at the remaining specifications, we get to see that the Eee PC X101CH is also equipped with 1GB of system memory, a 320GB hard drive as well as the standard 802.11n Wi-Fi, low-res webcam, and optional Bluetooth 3.0.
All of these, together with a 4-cell battery that can deliver up to 5 hours of running time, are packed inside a slightly thicker chassis than the one used for the original Eee PC X101.
The 10.1-inch screen has a native resolution of 1024x600 pixels and the operating system of choice is Windows 7 Starter.
The UK-based retailer (that was uncovered by Notebook Italia) hasn’t provided a shipping date for the Asus Eee PC X101CH netbook, but this is listed at £213.74 including VAT, which translates into about 249 EUR. If you ask us this price sounds just about right.
