ARM Cortex-based netbooks said to be coming soon

ARM's Cortex processor was apparently good enough for the folks behind the Pandora project and it looks like we could soon be seeing some netbooks based on the CPU as well. That word comes straight from ARM's UK director of mobile solutions Rob Coombs, who said that both the Cortex-A8 (used in the Pandora) and the forthcoming Cortex-A9 would find their way into netbooks in addition to the expected smartphones, and that we should "expect announcements in the next few months." Of course, he didn't go so far as to name any specific companies we should expect announcements from, but he did helpfully run off a list of A8 and A9 licensees, which includes Samsung, Panasonic, NEC, and Toshiba, to name a few. As Crave points out, one potential drawback to netbook's using the processor is that there's no ARM-compatible version of Windows XP, but the architecture is supported by Windows CE and a number of Linux distributions, and there is the small matter of that other little device that's based on an ARM processor...

[JAmerican @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:25PM]

No thanks. I need a full OS!

[JAmerican @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:28PM]

Although if something that runs all my Windows apps perfectly comes out and supports ARM, I'm game.

[atomicthumbs @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:41PM]

Linux is a full OS. Go away.

[JohnTitor @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:31PM]

wrong atomic, it may run linux but it won't be the "full OS" type linux like Ubuntu or Fedora, but something similar to say Android or QTopia, these will not be netbooks the we know it but more like Foleos

[ethana2 @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:09PM]

Ubuntu Mobile and Ubuntu Netbook are both good in-between options.

Heck, Ubuntu Netbook is the only gui I've ever seen that's innovative enough to be on par with something from, say, Apple.
I'm using window-picker-applet and maximus now.

[PW @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:13PM]

@JohnTitor - atomicthumbs isn't wrong. The Cortex-A8 has been filmed running Ubuntu already, on both Beagleboard and Pandora - complete with Gimp and Firefox 3. And there are plenty of less power hungry flavours of Linux that can still be considered a complete OS.

[fischju @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:35PM]

The Archos 5 series and the Beagleboard is also based on the OMAP 3530.

[bardak @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:51PM]

if Android can run on ARM(I think it does) then I would be interested in seeing it on one of these netbooks.

[kinshadow @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:56PM]

*pssst* You would be very hard pressed to find a smartphone / PDA that doesn't have an ARM processor.

Yes, the G1, the iPhone, the Blackberries, and your Mom all have ARMs.

[ishism @ Oct 23rd 2008 11:13PM]

*OUCH*

[nitsnipe @ Oct 23rd 2008 4:55PM]

What most people do not appreciate about ARM is that it is at least 10 times more power efficient than Intel ATOM. This however does come at the expense that it is not x86 compatible.
Linux is completely fine though and besides Debian provides a full ARM port. I have a Nokia n800 with an older omap2 cpu and a debian-based OS and it keeps getting better with time. There are nifty apps that keep getting ported to it, like all sorts of emulators, word processor(you can read/edit .doc files), media players/organisers, Pidgin messenger, hacking tools etc etc etc etc etc... And the device can stay ON for a whole week with it's tiny cellphone battery. Thats how efficient ARM is.

I look forward to a netbook that I only need to recharge once a week and that can run linux.

[Vance @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:18PM]

A Foleo with a complete software package (and without the smartphone companion gimmickry) would so get my money. Even if it were WinCE I'd probably bite. I loved the form-factor and instant-on hardware, just not the syncing with a phone thing.

Netbooks really need to have a very fast boot time. Even faster than Windows/OSX waking up, I mean.

[liv @ Oct 23rd 2008 7:09PM]

let me rephrase what you're thinking right now:

Hardware: ARM Cortex A8/9, secondary ARM chip 4 2D-3D, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB SSD, tablet form factor with a >5 inch touchscreen and a sliding keyboard + USB host port and an expansion slot...

Software: Linux distro: Debian or Ubuntu... it doesn't matter as long as they port Ffx 3, Pidgin, Skype, Thunderbird and a decent word processor. Dual boot with Android to have the best of both worlds. Oh and emulators: NES, PSX, GBA, DOOM, QUAKE...

Hell what I just described is an upgraded Nokia Internet Tablet... or a Pandora

[sr @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:31PM]

Stupid idiot, nearly every smartphone in the world runs off of an ARM core. Every fucking chance you get you have to mention that POS as if it is the only thing in the world. Go pull the iPhone that's stuck up your ass and maybe you can write with less bias.

[scape @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:34PM]

cortex-8 is an awesome platform, I can only image next series being even better at full 1080p decode and better on chip camera and touchscreen size support out of the box.
+1 to the beagle board, a sadly lesser known product!
i believe ubuntu made it onto the arm platform...

[ethana2 @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:11PM]

That is correct.

[UFGeek @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:41PM]

That's actually my job, making that happen.

I can assure you it's a very real node in our roadmap.

[loosely_coupled @ Oct 24th 2008 8:23PM]

Yes, and the out-of-order architecture and multi-core of the Cortex-A9 is even better..

[Phawx @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:36PM]

Pandora runs Xubuntu and Firefox3... Seems closer to a full OS than any other Handheld PC

[web2.oh @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:30PM]

Assuming the OS isn't completely gimped, ARM-based netbooks would really only be worthwhile if they:
1. Have a simply ridiculous battery life, MUCH better than your average netbook with an Atom. ARM is a hell of a lot more power efficient than any x86 CPU, but I wouldn't be surprised if manufacturers manged to put out an ARM netbook with only average battery life (trying to cut costs or whatever).
2. Are a good deal cheaper than other netbooks. $200-$300 would be a nice pricepoint, but I wonder if using ARM would really make things much cheaper.

[iofthestorm @ Oct 23rd 2008 8:16PM]

The Pandora is supposed to get 10 hours of battery life, and it can run Xubuntu, albeit a little slowly. I think with a more specialized port it would make an excellent netbook, and be more portable and last longer than most of the crap that Asus and such have been releasing. I thought the point of a netbook would be to have better battery life, but it seems like a lot of them don't do a lot better than standard notebooks. The Atom really is the limiting factor, from what I've read ARM is 10 times more power efficient than x86, which is just insane. If I had the money I would have preordered a Pandora, but I'm waiting for the price to drop in a year or so.

[dg @ Oct 23rd 2008 8:04PM]

OS X (mobile) on a netbook? Is that possible at all? Perhaps Apple will use an ARM cpu if they DO make a netbook-type device.

[msalivar @ Oct 23rd 2008 9:30PM]

More likely when they move over to in-house PA Semi chips.

[Dave Findlay @ Oct 23rd 2008 9:12PM]

WindowsCE only support ARMV4i, so it only uses a legacy subset of instructions available on the Cortex A8.

[Weird Guy @ Oct 23rd 2008 10:22PM]

ARM and netbook in the same headline and nobody mentions RISCOS?
For shame. THAT would own.

[ishism @ Oct 23rd 2008 11:26PM]

Isn't the cortex8 limited to 256MB nand and 128MB ram? I can see that for a handheld like Pandora, it sounds good, but for a netbook, it sounds somewhat crippling. I like running x86 based games and emulators on a netbook. If they can produce a dual core variant with added ram it may prove to be a real contender. And if I'm not making any sense, I am a noob to this tech stuff. I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[PW @ Oct 23rd 2008 11:40PM]

Nope. They're Pandora's specs, which were determined for cost and overall design reasons. They're not limitations of the Cortex A8 though. :-)

[Richy @ Oct 24th 2008 4:39AM]

This goes nicely with my theory that _if_ Apple to a netbook, it'll basically be a big iPhone/iPod Touch convertible tablet, running on ARM.

All Apple need to do is get 'lite' version of iWork in the App Store.

Stick a big (non-replaceable!) battery in that, and it'll last for days.

PA Semi may well design the full processor, but it'll be an ARM core. Apple may own PA Semi, but they also own a big stake in ARM (or, at least, they used to).

[Weet @ Oct 24th 2008 1:05PM]

Several questions here...

When will we see some Tegra netbooks? They're basically an ARM cpu with Nvidia GPU yes? Seems like a much better deal than a straight up ARM product... Didn't Nvidia say we should start to see Tegra products by now or was that early next year? Maybe these are Tegra based?

Any ideas as to how this will compare to Intel's Moorestown?

[spiffy1andonly @ Oct 24th 2008 2:50PM]

More likely it would be an ARM CPU and a PowerVR GPU (their current SGX is pretty damned nifty and will be used in Pandora...the last gen MBX is what is used in iPhone and the high end Nokia phones). Texas Instruments' OMAP processors use ARM Cortex A8 and PowerVR SGX currently, but they'll be starting to put out some OMAP products using the multi-core, out-of-order execution Cortex A9 fairly soon. Multi-core, out of order execution ARMs would completely smoke Atom, even dual core Atoms, in both processing ability and savings on battery life. Put that together with SGX, and it'd be completely ridiculous in terms of what it could do.