Moblin v2.0 Beta for netbooks released, sports new UI

Intel has just announced that the Moblin v2.0 Beta is now out. The improvements are quite significant and include a completely revamped user interface, faster boot time (<10 seconds), longer battery life and smaller memory footprint.

The new UI has a homepage called M-zone, which stands for “My” zone (screenshot below). It has been designed from the ground up and includes social networking features such as status updates. There is also instant access to calendar, tasks and appointments as well as recently used files. Read more

Intel releases new details on next-gen netbook CPU

Intel held a teleconference today to outline some details on the next-generation netbook platform dubbed ‘Pine Trail’. This platform will consist of just two chips, a processor and an input/output (I/O) chip. This compares to the three chips that currently constitute the Atom platform (processor + I/O + chipset (memory controller/graphics)).

The Pine Trail platform will see both the memory controller and GPU move into the next-gen Pineview CPU. Currently both of these parts reside in the 945GSE chipset on the Atom platform. The benefits of moving from 3 chips to 2 chips is power efficiency, lower costs and better performance. Read more

Intel plans surcharge for Atom chips in ION netbooks

Nvidia’s ION platform consists of Intel’s Atom processor combined with Nvidia’s 9400M GPU. The combination is said to bring significant benefits to both 3D and HD performance. Whilst some ION products have already been spotted in the wild with some official ION announcements expected at Computex Taipei, Intel may have placed a stumbling block on the ION’s future success.

Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, yesterday confirmed that Intel is charging more for the Atom CPU by itself than it does if combined with the Intel chipset. “We have historically offered better pricing to people who buy more product,” Otellini said. Several OEMs have said that whilst buying the cheaper Atom CPU and chipset and then swapping it for ION is possible, the process is cost and time prohibitive.

Nvidia’s CEO recently claimed that adding ION would add an incremental $50 to the cost of a netbook. However, once you account for the higher Atom processors, the cost may be just too high for some manufacturers to adopt.

Via Laptop Mag.

Intel Atom shipments slump in first quarter

Shipments of Intel Atom CPUs declined by 33 percent in Q1 2009 compared to the previous quarter according to IDC. Before some say that the netbook gravy train may be over, IDC suggests that the reason for the decline is that netbook manufacturers had built up significant inventory of Atom chips during the end of the year. IDC claims that during the first quarter, they were starting to burn through this excess inventory.

To give an indication as to why Intel is looking to concentrate on higher-priced CULV-based chips than Atom, IDC said that whilst Atom shipments represented 21 percent of total shipments, this translated to just 6.5 percent of revenues in the first quarter. Read more

Intel reveals H209 netbook CPU roadmap, N280/GN40 combo to be phased out

Intel has recently revealed its processor plans for notebooks, netbooks and CULV ultra-thin notebooks to its partners. From the netbook point of view, the interesting news is that Intel is considering phasing out the Atom N280 CPU and GN40 chipset combination due to low demand. Vendors don’t seem to be thrilled by the GN40 chipset, as it doesn’t offer much of an improvement over the old 945GSE chipset. Intel expects that the Atom N270 CPU and 945GSE chipset combo will be the main components found in netbooks until September this year.

After September, Intel expects to replace the current chips with the next-gen Atom processor (Pineview) and chipset (Tiger Point). This new platform will be targeted to 10-inch netbooks that cost between $399 to $599. Read more

Novell collaborates with Intel to push Moblin netbook OS

Intel and Novell have today announced a deal to push Moblin, the open source Linux platform designed for netbooks using the Intel Atom processor. As part of the deal, Novell will help to create a Moblin-based OS targeted for netbooks. It will also create an open lab in Taiwan to push Moblin adoption to the main netbook vendors i.e. Taiwanese based Asustek, Acer and MSI. The Novell distribution will be based on Moblin v2 for Netbooks.

If you remember, Moblin was originally created by Intel, but it recently handed over control to the Linux Foundation. The move was viewed as an attempt to attract more interest from netbook vendors who are currently steadfastly sticking with Windows XP. Judging from the Novell announcement, Intel still appears to be actively promoting the technology. Read more

Intel Atom processor demand slowing

Demand for Intel’s Atom processors is slowing as netbooks are starting to face increased price competition from value-end notebooks as well as the prospect of Intel CULV-based notebooks according to Digitimes. We saw direct evidence of this from Intel’s recent quarterly results, which showed a surprise drop in Atom revenues. At the time, Intel CEO, Paul Otellini, blamed this decline on a build-up of excess inventory, which is being cleared. It is believed that Intel is clearing its supply to Chinese vendors and second-tier netbook manufacturers.

The CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) platform is aimed at the ultra portable notebook segment in the $699 to $899 range. However, the lines between netbook and notebook are being blurred further as models with screen sizes from 11-inches to 13-inches are expected to be released.

In addition, PC makers may have been waiting for the release of more powerful Atom chips in the second half of the year and have slowed their purchases ahead of this release. This may be as manufacturers may be holding off for Nvidia’s Ion platform or price drops for Intel’s GN40 chipset.

Intel GN40 chipset benchmarked, disappoints

If I were to say that there is a lack of hardware variety powering most netbooks today, it would be an understatement. I’ve written the following line ‘N270CPU, 945GSE chipset, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard-drive etc’ so many times now that it is ingrained into my cerebral cortex. Two particular pieces of netbook tech I’ve been following closely are Nvidia’s Ion platform and Intel’s GN40 chipset, which are both meant to be much more powerful than the aging 945GSE chipset.

The first netbook that is due to appear with the Intel GN40 is the Asus Eee PC 1004DN, Asus’ first with embedded optical drive. Gigabyte also plans on releasing the TouchNote T1028P which will also support the chipset. HKPEC has managed to get hold of a 1004DN and put it through a number of benchmarks to see what the N280 CPU plus GN40 chipset combo was capable of. Unfortunately, it seems that the GN40 is not that much of an improvement over the 945GSE chipset. Read more

IBM aims for netbook CPU lead, announces 28nm CPU tech

IBM along with an alliance of companies has announced a 28nm processor design for netbooks and smartphones and expects to begin ‘early risk’ production in 2010. The IBM Alliance consists of partners Chartered, GlobalFoundries (AMD’s former chip-making unit), Infineon, Samsung and STMicroelectronics.

This news has quite a significant bearing for Intel, whose Atom processor is based on 45nm fabrication. Not only will these new chips from the IBM Alliance be smaller at 28nm but in doing so will be more energy efficient than Intel’s Atom CPU. Read more

Dell Mini 11 shipping in August?

According to a leaked roadmap that appeared earlier this month, Dell is planning to launch the Inspiron Mini 11 during Q2/Q3 this year. Little is known in terms of specifications, however it is believed to have an 11.6-inch display with the option of a high-resolution screen.

There are now reports suggesting that Taiwanese ODM, Compal Communications, has landed an order from Dell to manufacture an ultra-thin notebook using Intel’s CULV platform. The report suggests that this notebook will start to ship in August.

We already know that Dell is planning to release models based on the CULV platform with screen sizes from 11-inches to 13-inches. Putting two and two together, this model could very well be the rumoured Dell Mini 11. Compal is also in the frame to manufacture ultra-thin notebooks from both Toshiba and Lenovo according to the report.

Intel Results: Atom revenues fall; talk of dual-core Atom and embedded 3G

Intel yesterday announced a 56 per cent drop in its operating income for the first quarter of 2009, but predicts PC sales will rise in the months ahead. It reported processor revenues of over $7 billion during Q1 2009, a 26 percent fall from last year. Despite this Intel’s CEO, Paul Otellini, believes we are now at the bottom and sees brighter times ahead. “We believe PC sales bottomed out during the first quarter and that the industry is returning to normal seasonal patterns,” Otellini said.

What was most interesting however is that given how netbooks are meant to be seeing the most growth within the PC segment, Intel Atom CPU revenues were down by 27 percent in Q1 2009 compared to the previous quarter. Intel’s Atom CPUs hold the dominant market share when it comes to netbooks. Average selling price for chips were also flat so it’s hard to understand the decline. Read more

Netbook CPU shootout – AMD vs. Intel vs. VIA

Whilst Intel’s Atom CPU is found in the majority of netbooks released to date, it is facing competition from other vendors who are looking to jump onto the netbook cash-cow. Apart from prospective ARM processors, AMD recently launched the Athlon Neo which is found in the 12-inch HP Pavilion dv2 and is meant to be a step-up from Intel Atom CPUs. VIA also launched the Nano chip, intended specifically for netbooks and has first been seen in the Samsung NC20.

Crave looked to try to compare these CPUs against each other, however it is not a precise comparison as they effectively benchmarked three different netbooks. Fighting Intel’s corner was an Asus Eee PC 1000HE complete with 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU. VIA’s representative was the afore-mentioned Samsung NC20 with 1.3GHz Nano U2250 CPU. AMDs benchmarks were conducted by a HP Pavilion dv2, which came with an Athlon Neo 1.6GHz MV-40 processor.

Crave ran three different benchmarking tests and unsurprisingly there was no clear winner, with each CPU winning one test each. Intel’s Atom was the fastest in the multi-tasking test, the VIA Nano won the iTunes encoding test while the AMD won the Jalbum photo-program test. Since this is not an apples-for-apples comparison I would take the results with a pinch of salt. Each netbooks configuration would affect the outcome and they each have different clock speeds. Check out the table after the break. Read more

Women to account for 60% of future netbook custom

Women will account for as much as 60 percent of future potential netbook customers according to internal Intel forecasts. No information was given on where we stand now regarding male-to-female netbook splits, but I would have thought that there is already a sizeable female customer base. We have seen few directly focused female netbook designs, there are a number of Hello Kitty-themed netbooks as well as the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition. Despite this, with netbooks getting thinner and sleeker all the time, netbooks purchased by women are set to grow.

Intel also predicts that netbooks will reach a 20 percent market share of global notebook shipments by 2012. This is double from where we stand now. The largest growth channel is expected to be from telecom providers whilst strong growth is also expected from students and younger age groups.

Via Digitimes.

Intel: Netbooks are not meant for adults

Intel is doing its best to convince the public that netbooks are only meant for kids or emerging markets only. Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president said the following at the recent Intel Developer Forum in Beijing: “There are things that you would do on a notebook you wouldn’t dream of doing on a Netbook…For a kid, a Netbook is fantastic, as an adult you probably want a notebook. So, there are very simple ways of positioning and thinking about it.”

These comments echo Intel’s product page which looks at the difference between netbooks against laptops. According to the list, netbooks cannot multitask, create videos, encode music, watch HD movies and run complex office software. Now I’ll give them HD videos but creating/editing videos or photos? These are things I’ve done with a number of netbooks. Okay, no one expects Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop CS4 to run that well on a netbook but there are solutions out there that allow you to do the bulk of photo/video editing if needed to. Multi-tasking also is not an issue. Read more

Intel confirms 2GHz Z550 Atom CPU, demos Moorestown platform

Intel has officially released a 2.0GHz flagship CPU for the Atom series after rumours surfaced last month. The 2.0GHz Z550 CPU supports hyper-threading at under 3W of power. Intel also confirmed the 1.2GHz Z515 Atom CPU which uses Intel Burst Performance Technology for more power efficiency.

The company also demonstrated their next-gen Atom-based MID platform called Moorestown. One particular version shown had ten times more power efficiency when idle compared to current Atom chips. The platform uses a smaller 45nm manufacturing process, and includes both the graphics and memory controllers into the main core.

It will take advantage of a new version of Moblin, the open-source Linux-based platform Intel recently entrusted to the Linux Foundation, with new optimisation for internet access and mobile voice functionality. The platform is due to launch commercially by 2010.

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