Intel's Atom N450 'Pineview' coming to netbooks in October?

Get ready to say goodbye to the N270 processor and 945GSE graphics team slow-dancing with your netbook right now, Intel's single-core Atom N450 "Pineview" processor is rumored for a possible October release, at the earliest. The Atom N450 is part of Intel's "Pine Trail" platform architecture that moves the GPU and memory controller onto the CPU die for a smaller package that consumes less power (or the same if Intel jacks the clock speed) when coupled with intel's NM10 "Tigerpoint" chipset. Expect to see Atom N450-based netbooks elbowing for space against Snapdragon- and Tegra-flavored smartbooks everywhere by the end of the year.

[superhobo @ Jun 10th 2009 8:32AM]

Yey

[LondonConsultant @ Jun 10th 2009 1:57PM]

I looking forward to 2GHz of Yey...

[htd @ Jun 10th 2009 8:36AM]

can the GPU part decode 1080p?

[Jayayess1190 @ Jun 10th 2009 10:05AM]

Maybe, it's rumored the gpu is based of the GMA 4500, but if it cant you have companies like Broadcome making their HD decoder cards that work with Pineview.

[Nick @ Jun 10th 2009 11:25AM]

Just get NVidia's Ion for that.

[mirakutea @ Jun 10th 2009 12:02PM]

nvidias ion has limitations, it cant decode popular hd video formats like divx etc.

[mirakutea @ Jun 10th 2009 12:02PM]

also it won't do flash video well, certainly won't do flash video hd.

[pedro @ Jun 10th 2009 8:39AM]

Am I the only one who thinks that this is going to suck, performance wise?

Snapdragon and Tegra already outperform Menlow by a large margin in some areas, ION and x86 were its only two saving graces and now nVidia has been blocked from this platform.

[Rob @ Jun 10th 2009 8:55AM]

@ pedro

From what I've read so far, it seems that you will be able to pair Pineview with Ion.

http://www.dailytech.com/Intel+Talks+Pineview+and+Moblin+v20/article15190c.htm

I'm more concerned that this article claims that the october release it for the single core pineview, while most other sources I've read claim the dual core in the Q4 '09 and single core in Q1 '10. (to me it makes more sense to release the single core first so I am more apt to believe engadget on this)

this could be very exciting october for netbooks:
Pineview (hopefully dual core)
Ion 2 (with the die shrink to 40nm tech)
Windows 7

we could have some really decent netbooks coming out for christmas!

http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/06/06/nvidia-ion-to-get-40nm-refresh-by-year%E2%80%99s-end/

[Adderz @ Jun 10th 2009 8:59AM]

Well according to Windows 7 documents we will never see dual core netbooks.

[Bakkoda @ Jun 10th 2009 9:00AM]

Intel graphics? How can you go wrong?


Oh yeah...

[pedro @ Jun 10th 2009 9:07AM]

It is good to see that it is technically possible.

Is the dispute regarding QPI memory controller licensing between nVidia and Intel is over?

[Adderz @ Jun 10th 2009 8:43AM]

I can just see this sucking performance wise, and then manufacturers will cripple the great battery life by bringing back the 3 cell batteries instead of making the 6 cells intergrate nicely into the housing.

[loopyoyo @ Jun 10th 2009 9:01AM]

*yawn*
ssdd

[dsteve303 @ Jun 10th 2009 9:04AM]

Look. I don't care if they release a quad-core atom processor. If it can't be found in an Apple product it is neither a feat of engineering nor important news.

[Sam @ Jun 10th 2009 9:15AM]

shameless flaming. I like it

[webran61 @ Jun 10th 2009 9:19AM]

This kind of sarcasm is dangerous.

Seriously, people's internet lives are at stake.

[kal326 @ Jun 10th 2009 9:54AM]

Wow, I can't think of the millions of things that are feats of engineering or tech news that aren't in Apple products. Thanks for clearing that up for us, if its not in an Apple product it might as well not exist.

[3Djesus @ Jun 10th 2009 10:24AM]

Agreed. Also, if you don't eat Jif peanut butter, drive a Toyota, and drink Pepsi,....well, you,re just sub-human.

[GRAMMAR POLICE @ Jun 10th 2009 9:05AM]

No dual-core, no dice.

[TR @ Jun 10th 2009 9:18AM]

The only Pineview dual-core is for Nettops:

http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/06/10/first-details-on-intel-%e2%80%98pineview%e2%80%99-atom-n400-d400-d500-processors/

[Frogboy @ Jun 10th 2009 9:42AM]

Agreed. I have a netbook as do most other people. There is no reason to ever upgrade to a better one if it can't match the performance of a low-end laptop.

[GRAMMAR POLICE @ Jun 10th 2009 9:52AM]

@TR

...yeah, so what? That's the complaint.

[Ian @ Jun 10th 2009 9:14AM]

Intel do not want the netbook segment competing with the lower end laptop market and related chips. They have said this for ages, that's why Atom based netbooks have limited screen resolutions. Other manufacturers are not at all inhibited by such thinking. Ergo unless Intel has broken with this stance (no signs yet) they will somehow limit the performance of the new Chipsets and begin to lose their stranglehold on this segment.
Should be quite interesting to listen to Intel's words over the next 6 months.

[jon @ Jun 10th 2009 9:55AM]

Further proof:
http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/06/07/intel’s-next-gen-pineview-cpu-“not-validated”-for-windows-7-home-premium/

Screw Intel BTW.

[jon @ Jun 10th 2009 9:58AM]

Looks like we're gonna see a lot more W7 Starter than we thought.

[r3loaded @ Jun 10th 2009 9:34AM]

I can haz x64 instruction set and out-of-order execution?

[Wayne @ Jun 10th 2009 9:50AM]

Great News!! Worth a while to wait for new and improved netbook, can't wait baby~~

[Muhammad-Oli @ Jun 10th 2009 9:54AM]

Why do these charts always look like they were made in 1994? Are they trying to say that their processors lack the power to create modern graphic designs?

[kal326 @ Jun 10th 2009 9:59AM]

Competition is good even if it is in the race to the bottom.

[Jayayess1190 @ Jun 10th 2009 10:02AM]

Do want! My EEE 901 wants to be replaced and I've been waiting on Pineview. Very excited.

[Gert @ Jun 10th 2009 10:06AM]

...



Ion

[rodney.ha @ Jun 10th 2009 10:07AM]

Hey, the link says it supports 2 DIMM slots for RAM, so we can get dual-channel now? yay!

[LONGWORTH702 @ Jun 10th 2009 11:01AM]

Would this be any better than a Atom N330 w/ ION?

[wbblair3 @ Jun 10th 2009 12:28PM]

"Would this be any better than a Atom N330 w/ ION?"

Definitely not. From Intel comments, it seems that the graphics section is probably just a higher clocked die shrink of the 945 currently in Atom netbooks. In other words, marginally faster garbage.

[sam @ Jun 10th 2009 11:35AM]

So, um, how is its power consumption, and how does that compare with current? I'm not too impressed with 'consumes less power'... any numbers?

As I understand it, which could be wrong, Intel's current best is N280 + 945GSE + ICH7M = 11.3W (?). We need some numbers - does power improvement mean now it's like 10W total (which is nice, especially if performance is improving too, but not a big deal) or better than that? And how does it compare to the ARM-based solutions...

[wbblair3 @ Jun 10th 2009 12:29PM]

The ARM solutions are all vastly lower power (

[Fanfoot @ Jun 10th 2009 2:01PM]

Not sure if there are official numbers for Pineview.

As I understand it, the N270 uses about two Watts, but the 945GSE chipset adds another six Watts. In contrast, Silverthorne and Poulsbo together use just 4.5 Watts. Or 4.5 < 8 Watts. Course Silverthorne/Poulsbo cost like $95.

I've seen quotes elsewhere, not sure if these are Intel official, that the N450 will be around 7 Watts. So a minor improvement over the Z-series. And priced similarly to Atom N-series one assumes.

[Fanfoot @ Jun 11th 2009 12:56AM]

Looks like there are some nice details here:

http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/06/10/first-details-on-intel-%E2%80%98pineview%E2%80%99-atom-n400-d400-d500-processors/

In particular, power consumption numbers, GPU clocks, frequency, etc.

[Fanfoot @ Jun 11th 2009 2:27AM]

Even more details on Pineview:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/06/10/intel_atom_future/

Nice long article with lots of detail.

[Fanfoot @ Jun 10th 2009 1:06PM]

Any hints yet on what GHz these things are going to come out at? I'm kinda hoping for a bump here, to at least 1.8GHz, but 2.0 would be even better...

[Jayayess1190 @ Jun 10th 2009 3:03PM]

There is already a 2GHz Z550, so a 2GHz N series should be released soon after the N450.

[retro77 @ Jun 10th 2009 9:03PM]

An October release coincides with Windows 7 release and an easing of the hardware specs on netbooks.