14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that, even though it decided to delay the launch of its next batch of ultra-thin notebook processors, the Santa Clara-based chip maker is still hard at work perfecting its netbook and entry-level desktop chips. In fact, the company has already been revealed to be planning on soon outing the N470, N475 and N455 CPUs, the last two even supporting DDR3 memory. What end-users might not know, however, is that the CPU manufacturer also intends to update its dual-core offer.
Currently, the dual-core processor that Intel has is the Atom D510, which has a clock frequency of 1.66GHz per core. This chip has served systems well so far, but as OEMs become more and more intent on making machines with support for DDR3, this CPU seems less and less appealing. To remedy this, the DDR2-supporting D510 will be followed by a new dual-core offer that has, according to a report by Fudzilla, two major advantages that should make it the prime candidate for many future entry-level PCs.
Obviously, consumers will have guessed by now that the fresh processor will support DDR3 memory. What end-users are not informed about is the rest of the chip's feature set. Granted, since the part will only be an update to an existing line, the actual specs won't differ much, but a key upside of the Atom D525 is the fact that, while having a higher clock speed per core, it will consume just as much power as its predecessor. Specifically, while running at 1.8Ghz, the Intel Atom D525 will have a thermal design power (TDP) of 13W, the same as the D510.
Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what impact these optimizations will have on the final price. Still, end-users may find some solace in the thought that the new CPUs will make their debut during the second quarter of the ongoing year.