Intel plans Dual-Core ATOMs for netbooks in Q2 2010

The guys at Intel just published their financial results for Q1 2010. Overall, things are going pretty well for the giant, with net profit up 288% when compared to the first quarter of 2009, to 2.4 billion US dollars.

What’s more important to us, netbooks fans, is the fact that revenues from the ATOM lines dropped consistently, by 19%. Revenues for ATOM processors and chipsets were only 335M, a pretty insignificant part of the total revenues figure which raises above the 10 billion margin.

So, base line is, revenues for ATOM series dropped. Add this to the news of decreasing demand for compact laptop displays and you’ll end with one conclusion: overall interest for netbooks dropped in this first quarter of 2010. There are numerous explications for why did this happen, but i for one believe Intel bares much of the responsibility for this.

As you know, the vast majority (probably above 90%) of netbooks shipped these days are built with Intel ATOM platforms. Remember how disappointed I was with the performance levels of the PineTrail N450 platform? One that could barely run Windows 7 decently with standard everyday applications? Well, regular users noticed that too. Autonomy and looks and features, all pale when the overall experience with the computer is sluggish.

However, Intel plans to fight this decline. According to Paul Otellini, their CEO, the guys at Intel are working on dual-core ATOM versions for netbooks: “The next innovation coming out on Atom is Dual Core which comes out in the second quarter. So that will ramp for the holiday season this year and I think that will be a very attractive product.” Intel already has some dual-cores ATOM based on PineTrail (the D410 or D510), but probably these one will be more energy efficient.

So this is indeed a good news and one that could draw users attention towards netbooks once more. I for one won’t cheer just yet though, I’ll just wait to see how will they perform in practice and what impact will they have on a netbook’s overall prices and autonomy.

Via NetbookChoice

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Tags: dual core ATOM, dual core processor, Intel Atom

Last updated: April 14, 2010 | Published: April 14th, 2010 | Add the first comment!