Intel Atom N450 "Pineview" processor delayed until next year?
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 22nd 2009 2:46AM
posted Jul 22nd 2009 2:46AM
We'd recommend taking this one with a hefty grain of salt for the time being as Intel isn't saying anything on the matter itself just yet, but DigiTimes is reporting / speculating that Intel's Atom N450 "Pineview" processor (and the Pine Trail platform that goes along with) has been delayed until next year. That processor, as you may recall, was apparently on track to debut sometime in the last quarter of this year, but DigiTimes says Intel has decided to push it back a bit so as not to shake up the netbook market too much in the second half of 2009.
Update: DigiTimes has further clarified saying the N270 will take up the slack on 2H2009 in part due to low orders of the relatively high cost N450 and worries that the Pine Trail platform could cannibalize sales of next gen thin-and-lights and Calpella-based laptops.
Update: DigiTimes has further clarified saying the N270 will take up the slack on 2H2009 in part due to low orders of the relatively high cost N450 and worries that the Pine Trail platform could cannibalize sales of next gen thin-and-lights and Calpella-based laptops.
Damn, I've been eyeing the 1101HA but apparently I'd have to overclock it to get decent performance and Pineview was just around the corner so I was going to hold off. I can't wait forever, so l guess I'll have to pull the trigger now.
Smart move for Intel, but bad for consumers.
Will this thing be able to play Hulu? 720p? Because if not, Intel should fix up the GPU a little before integrating it.
If you already knew it was gonna be a 4th quarter product (ie: Possibly Oct, Nov, or Dec), then what is the difference if it comes out in January, if you were already willing to wait until December?
Then again it sucks to wait!
I'm currently waiting for T-Mobiles 3G service to come to Pittsburgh, which also is supposed to come in the 4th quarter.
Getting rid of the dinosaur 130-nm 945G chipsets is going to send battery life through the roof. Can't wait for the yummy new motherboards.
You know Donald, this speculation from DigiTimes shouldn't come as much of a surprise to you. Just last week, one of your fellow Engadget bloggers posted an article on leaked Intel roadmaps, which clearly showed the Atom N450 scheduled for a release in Q1 2010.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/15/leaked-intel-roadmap-specs-upcoming-core-i5-and-i7-lynnfield-c/
Although a roadmap's authenticity can be argued at some point, I'm somehow more inclined to believe the roadmap than a company's analyst. Well, since two secondary sources has stated the same thing, I guess that makes this info a little more believable.
Well, it happens when there is no real atom competitor.
I was just going to write exactly the same thing. I really hope amd manages to pull its act together somehow, otherwise, it seems like there is very little improvement in the past 3-4 years (ever since Core processors killed AMD)
I don't think AMD has a hope. No other x86 manufacturer seems to be able to do anything reasonable within the Atom power envelope (~2 watts).
The best hope for netbook competition to Atom is ARM's dual-core Cortex A9 designs. Chips and systems based on these aren't expected until partway through 2010 so no doubt this is another reason why Intel think they can wait. (Current single-core Cortex A8 processors, while power-efficient, are significantly slower than Atom.)
@Sam
Atom may be excellent power wise, but the chipset sure is not. They were running Atom of a 20W plaform at first, and even the 11.5 Watt 945GSE platform is power hungry.
Regardless of power, I think the dual-core Neo with it's excellent GPU chipset could do very well.
"not to shake up the netbook market too much"
They drag their feet because there is no one to push them. More can be said but its obvious.
Great time for AMD to push the development for their dual core neo + (fast)radeon platform, it can beat the ION netbooks. If only AMD can release it in time for christmas then its a great win for AMD, they will have consumers buying their products and by the time intel release theirs it will all be too late..
Atom N280 TDP: 2W
Dual-core Neo TDP: 20W
AMD: Still not competing in netbook space
Intels chipset's have a much higher power draw resulting in a similar power draw for the total package (cpu + chipset).
The dual core Neo is OUT now. It is in HP's 12'' DV2 notebook. The dual core NEO won't be in a netbook unless it has the full version of Vista or Win 7 when it is released. Microsoft prevents manufacturers from putting XP, Win 7 Starter on a dual core PC as well as one with more than 1g of ram. If you want a Dual core at best you'll have to wait until Win 7 and PAY for the full version of it.
"DigiTimes has further clarified saying the N270 will take up the slack on 2H2009 in part due to low orders of the relatively high cost N450 and worries that the Pine Trail platform could cannibalize sales of next gen thin-and-lights and Calpella-based laptops."
After all, why let consumers buy something that serves the same practical purpose for about 1/2 to 1/4th the cost...