14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, Intel, the world's leading vendor of high-performance computer processors, hosted its annual IDF event (Intel Developer Forum) during which the chip maker had a couple of announcements to make, including the introduction of some new products. In addition, Intel also discussed some of its upcoming solutions, including the much-anticipated Pineview processors and Pine Trail netbook platform. According to the company, the updated Atom processors are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2009, consequently confirming previous rumors that surfaced on the Internet, prior to the aforementioned show.
Much has been said about Intel's next-generation Atom processors over the last few months, especially since these upcoming chips will feature a different architecture, compared to the current platform. Pine Trail, Intel's upcoming Atom platform, will adopt a 2-chip solution, compared to the current 3-chip platform design. This is a feature that has been enabled by the new chipset and processor design, which puts the graphics core and memory controller inside the processor, eliminating the need for a third chipset.
The next-generation Pineview processors will ship during the fourth quarter of this year, according to a recent news-article on PC World, citing Jeff DeMuth, who works with Intel's platform marketing. Unfortunately, DeMuth hasn't specified when Pineview-powered netbooks will be available on the market, but there's a good chance that we will be seeing some new designs in the first couple of months of 2010.
The Pine Trail platform, featuring the new Pineview Atom processors, is expected to enable system developers to create smaller and thinner systems, with improved battery life, a couple of features that should be appreciated by netbook enthusiasts. However, graphics performance might not be the strongest feature available on the upcoming platform, but we are yet to see if the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker has managed to improve its netbook graphics, compared to the current solution.