Items tagged with Pinetrail
There is little argument that most netbook owners wouldn't take a little bit more performance headroom in their machine if it was available. The reality is, though Intel has mopped the floor with netbook design-wins that employ its ultra low-power Atom processor, performance on Atom-based machines has always felt a little (or a lot perhaps?) emaciated. And that's regardless of whether you're looking to run multimedia or gaming applications. Regardless, technology marches on, especially with the endless resources of Intel's monstrous fabrication technologies, and as such, Intel's darling netbook processor has been evolving of course. Today we've got a quick, breaking look at an...
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It's something that we have been clamoring for, and it's something that netbook users at large have been wanting for some time now, even if they didn't know it. We're talking about faster Atom processors. Intel's Atom platform has been lagging somewhat in our eyes over the past couple of years, but it has been hard to really knock the series due to the lack of competition. AMD's Athlon Neo family competes somewhat, but it gets so hot that many don't even consider it. Today, a new dual-core Atom is shipping within new netbooks, as the Pinetrail 550 hits the scene. Acer, ASUS, Fujitsu, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, MSI, Toshiba and a bunch of others are starting to ship their newest netbooks with the Intel...
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Market analysis firm IDC is planning to release a report this week on the state of the netbook market and the explanation for the segment's slumping sales. Atom sales were the one dark spot on Intel's otherwise perfect first quarter, falling significantly compared to Q4 2009 and more than would be predicted by seasonal trends. "Atom in Netbooks is plateauing," Shane Rau, an analyst at IDC, said in a phone interview with CNET. "With the market recovery, I think end users are going to be looking for more value than just low-cost devices. This is an opportunity for higher-end mobile PCs, for example, that have better performance, bigger screens, bigger hard drives," he said. We agree with IDC that...
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Zotac gave details on the next system in its line of mini-PCs today, the HD-ID11. Externally, the HD-ID11 is nearly identical to the HD-ND01 we reviewed last year, but the manufacturer has made a number of small upgrades to add a few of the features we had on our wishlist for the original MAG. There have also been a few subtractions; we'll have to wait for a hands on review to determine how the new system's balance compares to the original. First, the hardware. The new ZBox is built around an Atom D510 SoC and an NVIDIA NG-Ion GPU with a 512MB frame buffer. External connectivity is provided via six USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, one HDMI output, a 6-in-1 memory card reader, and a dual-link DVI...
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CES 2010 promises to be a launching pad for Intel in a few big ways. Not only has the company just launched its 32nm Arrandale and Clarkdale platforms in earnest, but it also launched its Pinetrail platform just a few weeks ago. That tiny window of lead time will likely lead to us seeing all sorts of new hardware taking advantage of the new Pineview chip, and as we've already seen with Asus, companies aren't wasting any time showcasing new netbooks based around a fresh CPU.For most (if not all) of last year, netbooks were stuck utilizing Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 or the slightly more powerful 1.66GHz Atom N280. Regardless of design changes or anything else, the CPU generally remained the same....
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When we recently wrote up our "Best Of 2009" awards, we knew that those netbook recommendations wouldn't last long. We didn't have any idea they'd only last a few days, though. We had a feeling that the netbook arena would get a lot more interesting in 2010 compared to 2009, and sure enough, Acer is proving that notion right with its first major netbook upgrade in a long, long time. The Aspire One AO532h netbook is a huge step over prior versions thanks to the Intel Atom N450 processor within, which is the first from the company to ship with a Pineview CPU. We suspect that quite a few other netbook makers will introduce netbooks of their own based around the new Pine Trail platform at CES, but...
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The International Consumer Electronics Show is upon us, and that means new kit from every direction will be flowing our way. MSI is a big player in the motherboard, desktop and notebook space, so it makes sense to hear that it'll also be using the show to showcase new gear. One previously unmentioned machine that'll be making its debut in Las Vegas is the Wind Top AP1920, an all-in-one PC that goes easy on the power suckage, measures just 35mm deep and sports an 18.5" display. It will also use Intel's new Pinetrail platform with an Atom D510/D410 CPU. Other new machines in attendance will be the Wind Box DE220 and Wind Box DC500 Mini PCs, both of which aim to cater to users with space problems...
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If you consider Intel's design execution over the past 12 months or so, you'd have to admit it's nothing short of impressive. Not only did we see the launch of a new desktop chip with the Core i7, but Intel then ramped up clock speeds, introduced lower cost mainstream variants of the platform, and then drove that technology down into the mobile market with the introduction of Clarksfield, otherwise known as Core i7 mobile. Of course all of that execution was centered around more powerful computing platforms with larger form factors and the thermal and power budgets that go with them. These products, though huge contributors to Intel's bottom line, didn't cater to the ultra-mobile set of device...
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If you consider Intel's design execution over the past 12 months or so, you'd have to admit it's nothing short of impressive. Not only did we see the launch of a new desktop chip with the Core i7, but Intel then ramped up clock speeds, introduced lower-cost mainstream variants of the platform, and then drove that technology down into the mobile market with the introduction of Clarksfield, otherwise known as Core i7 mobile. Of course all of that execution was centered around more powerful computing platforms with larger form factors, along with the thermal and power budgets that go with them. These products, though huge contributors to Intel's bottom line, didn't cater to the...
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After nearly a year of meteoric growth and exploding unit sales, the netbook market—or at least netbook OEMs—may finally be pausing to catch its breath. With Intel delaying the launch of its next-generation Atom platform (codenamed Pinetrail) until 2010, neither Asus nor Acer are planning new product introductions for the second half of the year. The pause makes sense given the differences between the current Atom platform and its successor. Pinetrail will sport an SoC (System-on-a-Chip) flavor of Atom (codenamed Pine View) that will integrate both a graphics core and a single-channel memory controller. This iteration of Atom will remain on 45nm technology, but Intel has promised that the on-die...
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We already knew that Intel was pushing Moblin mighty hard, but now the evidence of its fondness is just overwhelming. In a new deck of slides released this week, Intel has detailed Pine Trail and Moblin, hailed as its next generation platform for netbooks and nettops. Intel also made known that Moblin version 2 Beta was now available for download.Speaking of Pine Trail, that's the codename for Intel's next Atom platform, which is currently on schedule to be released "later this year." It'll feature a 3-to-2 chip partition for increased performance and lower average power consumption, and considering just how long in the tooth the current Atom lineup is getting, we'd say the sooner the better....
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