What AMD and Intel plan for netbooks in the next period

At the moment, Intel clearly dominates the netbooks market, their ATOM platforms being a part of a vast majority of such devices sold these days. However, their current spear-head, the N450, kind of disappointed most of us netbook fans with its poor performances and might have been an important factor for the decrease for netbooks demand in the last months.

Thus, in order for this segment to grow, changes are needed. And both AMD and Intel are working on it. In the following lines you will see what each of them has in store for us for the next period of time.

Let’s start with Intel.

First on their list is the launch of a dual-core processor meant for these mini laptops. It will most likely bear the code name N500 and will run at 1.5 GHz, while offering increased Cache memory (1 MB, compared to 512 KB for the N450). This is expected to boost performance levels, especially when Intel will pair the new CPU with a Broadcom chip or Nvidia’s new ION technology. The N500 will enter the market by the start of the summer and the first devices with it on-board should be available after a couple of months.

Also later this year Intel plans to launch new ULV processor part of their Capella platform, that should easily fit 11.6 and 12 inch devices, starting with the Celeron U3400 . It should be launched in Q3 2010 and available on computers in stores by the end of the year.

As for nettops, Intel plans to have the D525 Atom processor ready for the winter sales period, with better 1.83 GHz speed than the actual D510 and DDR3 support, while boosting a 13 Wh TDP. More details on Fudzilla.

Of course, these changes won’t really affect the vast majority of Atom powered netbooks that will still be shipped with the N450. There’s no plan to update the ATOM line as early as second half of 2011, when the Cedar Trail platform should get its debut. Of course, this chip is still in development and there are no exact details on what will it offer, but rumors and speculations emerge weekly.

Based on what we know now, the Cedar Trail replacement for the N450 will be based on a 32nm process and will boost a 5W TDP while benefiting from a fanless design. Will support DDR3 memory, but there are not details on speed and cache. Also, it will probably offer 1080P wireless streaming (with the help of a special adapter) and will have HD support via HDMI or DisplayPort. As for operating systems, the new platform will work with Windows 7, Intel’s Meego OS and probably Chrome (source).

So, while Intel plans some tweaks on their platforms for 2010, the major changes will only come in late 2011.

But how about AMD?

There’s already the Acer AO521 around with intriguing AMD hardware inside, boosting a single core 1.2 GHz processor (the AMD V105) with DDR 3 support and 512 KN cache, plus the M880G chipset and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics, all with only 9W TDP. This CPU is the slowest single core Geneva processor of the AMD Nile platform and we should see more on it in the near future. So, AMD plans a platform that could get closer to the Atoms in terms of energy efficiency and would provide better performances than the N450 + GMA 3150 combo.

Also, earlier this year there were rumors the guys at AMD were working on a new platform meant to go head to head with Intel’s ATOM, called the Bobcat. Part of the Fusion line, it was supposed to be available in late 2011, but AMD managed to move ahead of schedule and recent news makes me confident we’re going to see the Bobcat in action sooner.

Recent rumors speak of AMDs Ontario chip based on the Bobcat architecture, aimed at netbooks, tablets and low-powered computers in general. The Ontario will be a system on a chip (SoC) device built on the 40 nm process. It will use two x86 cores (so we have a dual-core chip) and will be DRR3 compliant. Will also offer DirectX 11 compatible graphic solutions, but there are no details on this aspect for now. All in all, according to AMD, the Ontario chip will be able to run 90 per cent of today’s “mainstream performance” in less than half of die area, while some versions being sub-1W capable.

So, as you can see, not much will change for AMD this year also. The Nile platform might have some impact, but i doubt it will be able to shake Atoms too much.

Conclusions

Of course, for the moment it’s way too early to draw conclusions on the future of netbooks, but with AMD being more involved in this segment, only good things will come out of it.

Their chips are already present on some 11.6 and 12 inch devices and will surely  enter the 10 inch segment too, once they manage to make them more power-efficient. However, we won’t probably see too many changes in this segment this year. For 2011 though, with both AMD and Intel planning new platform with quite some interesting new features, the battle will get fierce.

In the end, we, netbook buyers will be the one benefiting for this fight between Intel and AMD. Cause where’s competition, there’s also improvement. So stay tuned on this site for more info on AMD’s and Intel’s plans and actions in the next months and years.

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Tags: AMD, AMD Bobcat, Intel Atom, Intel Cedar Trail, Pine Trail

Last updated: March 23, 2011 | Published: April 23rd, 2010 | Add the first comment!