Computer World

Intel is launching the biggest makeover of the atom processor since the seminal chip made its debut in 2008, and consumers can judge a crash of new Net-books.

As previously announced, Intel's latest N450 processor and NM10 Express chip-set--technology that had been previously referred to as "pine trail"--will be used in a new raft of Netbooks that will be launched at the Consumer Electronics exhibition in January. Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo and others are likely to either declare their new systems before the exhibition or launch their new models there.

Intel said there will be more than 80 new Netbook designs on the way, with systems will be available by January 4.

To the consumer this means better battery life and thinner designs. "We'll see sleeker designs coming into the market and longer battery life," said Nanduri, adding that average power consumption has dropped 20 percent over the previous generation of Atom technology.

"We got more than eight hours of battery life out of this system," said CNET Review's Dan Ackerman, after testing the new Asus Eee PC 1005PE Netbook, which is equipped with the updated Atom silicon

Intel has integrated the graphics function onto the CPU, resulting in lower overall power consumption resulting in overall power consumption.

Atom-based systems will be sold primarily with Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic. "These are the ones that hit the right price points," Nanduri said. "The kind of applications you load up as you go into Home Premium--with a much more richer experience--more performance is needed for that," Nanduri said, referring to higher-price Windows Home Premium.

Windows XP Home and Intel's Moblin Linux operating systems will also be supported. Moblin offers some benefits over Windows. "You will get a very snappy experience on Moblin and faster boot times because it's very purpose-built for this category," Nanduri said.

Intel expects robust growth ahead for Net-books. Nanduri cited numbers from ABI Research that show Net-book annual shipments reaching 100 million units sometime in the next three years. Since introduction, Intel has shipped more than 40 million Atom chips for Net-books to major PC makers.

Intel is also launching a new Atom processor with two processing cores, the D510, which it is targeted at entry-level desktops and replaces an existing dual-core Atom. Also, a new single-core D410 design is being introduced.

New Atom processors:

* N450: 1.66GHz, 512KB cache, DDR2-667, TDP: 5.5W
* D510: 1.66GHz, 512KB cache, DDR2-800/667, TDP: 13W (2 cores)
* D410: 1.66GHz, 512KB cache, DDR2-800/667, TDP: 10W

Note: "DDR2" refers to memory speed; TDP refers to Thermal Design Power; W indicates watt.

Though radically redesigned, the gigahertz ratings and cache memory specifications of the new Atom chips have not changed from the previous generation. The N450 runs at the same 1.66GHz speed as the current N280 Atom and cache memory sizes are the same.

Nvidia claims consumers will need its Ion chip-set coupled with the new Atom processor to get a mainstream laptop-like experience.

Pricing and availability for the new Atom will be announced in January as systems become available from Netbook suppliers.