The Intel Atom N270 will continue to play a major role in Netbooks at least until the year is out according to a Digitimes report.
Apparently PC maker sources say that Intel has decided to delay the launch of its next generation processor, the Atom N450, which is the basically the successor to the Atom N270, until the first quarter in 2010 in order not to “shake up” the Netbook industry too much.
In January, Intel will issue a last order notice for the N270 and will then phase the chip out in March 2010 say the PC maker sources.
The Atom N450, which has the code name Pine Trail, was expected before the end of this year.
Netbook producers were given engineering samples of the Pine Trail platform last month, but as the price of the N450 is a lot higher than the price of Atom N270 (around $64 USD), many Netbook makers are not keen to launch Netbooks with the new chip in the second half of the year.
Intel have also said that so far they have only received a small amount of orders for the Atom N450, something which may have influenced their decision to delay its arrival.
For those who might be waiting for the new chip to arrive before buying a new Netbook, it might help you to know that it isn’t expected to make Netbooks any faster, the only difference you are really likely to see is perhaps improved energy efficiency.
Another possible reason for the delay of the launch is that Intel is keen to push ultra-thin notebooks carrying the next generation Calpella platform. If Intel decides to go ahead and launch the Pine Trail before the end of the year this could possibly impact on sales of these ultra-thin laptops carrying Intel’s next generation chip.
Intel apparently has a strategy to push PCs in the second half of 2009 instead of Netbooks and as part of this strategy they will postpone most entry-level products until next year.
Intel on the other hand has responded to all this speculation by saying they have made no changes to their schedule and will be shipping Pine Trail-M later this year.
The bottom line is that we really don’t know if the Atom N450 is going to appear any day soon or if we’ll have to wait until next year. Either way it won’t come as a surprise.
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