14 DAY TRIAL // Santa Clara, California-based Intel is expected to up the ante in the netbook market with the release of a next-generation Atom processor, codenamed Pineview. According to unconfirmed sources, quoted by Digitimes, in a recent news-article, the upcoming netbook CPU is going to become available in the second half of 2009, as a single-core processor. The chip maker is expected to also release a dual-core version of said processor, which will be targeted at the nettop market segment.
As with the company's highly-successful Atom processor, codenamed Diamondville, which has been featured in almost every netbook released last year, the upcoming Pineview will be designed using Intel's 45nm process technology. It will, however, come with built-in northbridge functions, including a memory controller and integrated graphics processor. The processor will be paired together with a new Tiger Point southbridge chip, while the new netbook platform from Intel will be dubbed Pine Trail-M.
One of the main benefits of the new platform is that it will be cheaper than Intel's current platform, consequently allowing for more affordable netbooks, likely to debut before the end of the year. Another plus of the new Pine Trail-M platform is that, because of the integrated CPU and Northbridge design, the overall motherboard size will be 60% of the current one, which uses Intel's N270 processor. Pineview is said to be featuring a four-layer PCB design, a feature that is expected to further reduce costs.
As for technical specifications, the Pineview will be capable of providing a higher core speed, when compared to the 1.6GHz on the current N270. Memory support will also be enhanced from DDR2 533 to DDR2 667. The integrated GMA 950 graphics core will now be clocked at 200MHz, instead of 133MHz, which should also boost the system's graphics performance and overall responsiveness. The maximum TDP is rated at 7W down from 8W, while the average power consumption is expected to fall at 2W. Another plus is that the processor won't necessarily require a fan.
All in all, the upcoming Pineview processors are expected to boost performance of new netbooks, while also managing to keep the price tag well within affordable limits.