The folks over at Tom’s Hardware decided to cut through a bit of the buzz over Intel’s latest low-power CPU by comparing the Atom with a much older AMD Athlon 64 2000+ processor. The results? You can underclock the Athlon CPU a bit and get better performance and lower power consumption than you’d get from the Intel Atom chip. But there’ s a catch — the AMD chip is designed for desktops, not laptops.

Now, Tom’s Hardware did its best to make an apples to apples comparison. The Atom chip they pitted against the AMD was the Intel Atom N230 processor, which is the desktop variant of the N270 found in little laptops like the Asus Eee PC 901. So you might be able to make a case that the Eee Box should be using an Athlon CPU instead of an Atom. But it’s unlikely you could fit the Athlon 64 2000+ in a netbook case. The chip is about three times larger than the Atom N230. And space is at a premium in computers like the Acer Aspire One, Asus Eee PC 901, and MSI Wind.

So it’s probably safe to say that if and when AMD decides to release a chip designed for the netbook market, it will be a new chip, not a repurposed older model like the Athlon 64 2000+.

[via Engadget]

Intel’s low-power, low-price Atom processor is showing up in all sorts of ultramobile devices this summer, ranging from UMPCs and netbooks to low-power desktops. But an Intel official tells Information Week that strong Atom sales don’t appear to be hurting the company’s sales of other, more powerful (and expensive) chips. Rather, the Atom is opening up a new market.

That makes sense, since Atom chips are largely going into the kind of device that most people will pick up as a second or third computer. For most people, an Eee PC with a 7 to 10 inch display isn’t a replacement for a good laptop computer. Rather, it’s a device that you can throw in a bag and take with you when you need to do some light weight work on the go. If you want to play games or edit videos, you can do it on an underpowered device like the Eee PC, but there are plenty of computers that are better designed for CPU-intensive tasks.

[via Engadget]

Looking to get a low cost, ultraportable laptop, but don’t want to settle for a single core processor? There’ve been rumors for a while that Intel would be releasing a dual-core version of its popular Atom CPU. Now Fudzilla is reporting that Intell will launch the low-cost, low-power, dual core chip on September 21st.

According to the report, the dual-core Atom chip will cost about $43. Currently a single-core Atom 230 CPU costs $29. But the 230 is the version of the Atom designed for desktops. Intel charges $44 for the laptop version, which is designed to run cooler in cramped spaces. So I’m guessing that the $43 price tag applies to the desktop version of the dual-core chip, not the laptop model, which will presumably cost a few bucks more.

The dual-core processor will run at 1.6GHz and will have a 533MHz FSB speed, and 512KB of cache per core, for a total of 1MB. It will be designed to fit in the same motherboards as the current Atom processor, so it should be a relatively painless process for manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, and MSI to swap out the old chip for a new one.

[via Electronista]

The Intel Atom CPU may be designed to provide decent performance at a low price, while using less power than similar chips. But it turns out the “low price” part of that equation is a bit muddy. Network World reports that the desktop version of the Atom, the N230, costs $29, while the N270 laptop version costs $44. While both are pretty cheap by CPU standards, you’re paying a premium to get pretty much the same performance out of the laptop version.

What makes the laptop chip more than 30% more expensive than the desktop chip? Heat. There’s more room in a desktop, even a tiny desktop like the Eee Box than in most laptops. And that means you have more room for fans and other cooling systems to keep the computer from overheating. So you can build cheaper parts into the processor. The inside of a laptop, on the other hand, is a pretty crowded place. So the Atom N270 would overheat if Intel didn’t include some slighlty pricier components to help keep things cool.

In the grand scheme of things, a $15 price difference might not seem like a big deal. But when laptop makers are selling mini-notebooks for as cheap as $300, every dollar counts. The New York Times has an article this morning suggesting that many PC manufacturers are less than pleased that the netbook market segment is doing so well. On the one hand, tens of millions of tiny laptops are expected to sell this year. On the other hand, since the prices are low, so are the profit margins.

If you thought it was just consumer-oriented computers like the Eee PC, MSI Wind and ECS G10IL that were getting the new Intel Atom processor, think again. CNET Asia found a Classmate PC hanging out that the Intel Atom booth at Computex.

The Asus Eee PC 900 has only been available for a few weeks, but Asus is already planning to launch its next, next generation Eee PC on June 3rd. DigiTimes reports that’s when the company will launch the Eee PC 901, which we caught a first glimpse of just a few days ago.

While MSI isn’t expected to release their Wind notebook for another month or so, Spanish web site CHW got a chance to check out an early prototype. Probably the most surprising thing is that during their hour-long test the MSI Wind didn’t get all that hot. Most notebooks I’ve used get pretty warm to the touch, and this is doubly true for tiny laptops like the Eee PC and HP Mini-Note, which don’t have a lot of room for ventilation. But MSI pretty much blanketed the bottom of the Wind laptop with vents, and apparently it’s worked.

Intel’s upcoming Atom processor is designed to be an energy efficient CPU that will provide moderate performance and plenty of power savings, allowing low capacity batteries to run a little longer. So it’s no wonder many PC makers who plan to launch low-cost ultraportables this summer want to put the Atom CPU in them. But Digitimes reports that Apple Daily, a Chinese language site, vendors say they’re not going to be able to meet the demand.

In May, Intel has reportedly only been able to meet 40% of the demand for the chips. Dell, Acer, MSI, and Gigabyte are just some of the companies that plan to use the chips in their computers, and it’s not clear if this means some of the companies will delay the introduction of their Eee PC competitors, or if those computers will be made available, but in small quantities.

Meanwhile, companies like Asus and HP that have already released low cost computers without waiting for the next generation chip may benefit by having the market mostly to themselves for a few more months. The HP Mini-Note uses the VIA C7 processor, while the Asus Eee PC currently uses a 900MHz Celeron chip.

[via Electronista]

Just days after announcing the new Eee PC 900 with an 8.9 inch screen, Asus officials are talking about plans for a 10-inch model. PC World reports that the company will release a version with a 10-inch screen later this year. There are no plans to put a screen larger than 10 inches on an Eee PC, since anything larger would basically turn the computer into a traditional laptop.

PC World is also confirming the rumor that Asus plans to introduce a version of the Eee PC running Intel’s upcoming Atom processor in June. The atom processor is designed to be more energy efficient than the current Celeron processors used by the Eee PC 701 and 900 series. While it’s pretty clear the 900 series will be getting the Atom treatment, I wonder if Asus will use the new chip in the older 701 2G/4G/8G models. Atom is designed to be a low cost chip, after all.

And rounding up the news from PC World, it took just a few hours Asus to sell out of Eee PC 900 models after the Hong Kong launch. That would probably be more impressive if the article didn’t say “over 1,000″ of the laptops sold almost immediately. Because while I know the Hong Kong release was just the first run, I would have expected the company to have more than a thousand units available at launch. Something tells me there will be a few more to go around by the time the Eee PC 900 hits Europe and the US.

In other news, Asus has been dealing with a battery shortage which has affected some Eee PC shipments. Reuters reports that the company expects these issues to be resolved by June.

And finally, web comic xkcd gives us a new idea for something to do with a low cost, tiny computer.

Both Intel and VIA are set to release new chips this year designed for ultraportable computers like MIDs, UMPCs and low-cost laptops like the Eee PC and HP 2133. While neither the Intel Atom nor the VIA Isaiah processor is expected to be a speed demon, both will use significantly less energy than existing chips while offering decent performance.

Eee PC News.de ran some preliminary benchmarks and fins that an Isaiah outperforms anAtom processor with the same clock speed. This wasn’t a comprehensive raft of tests, and until we see both CPUs start to show up in actual production computers it’ll be hard to make any real judgements. But it’s still fun to look at the pretty little graph, no?

TechRadar is reporting that Asus could swap out that 900MHz Celeron processor in the Eee PC 900 for a shiny new Atom processor before the end of June. Word on the street is that the Atom processor might not be much speedier than the Celeron processors shipping with the current models. But they are designed to be much more energy efficient, which could have a significant impact on battery life. Right now you’ll be lucky to get 2 to 2.5 hours from an Eee PC 4-cell battery.

Typically I wouldn’t expect to see a company like Asus launch a computer in April/May only to offer a processor upgrade just a month or two later. But I get the feeling that Asus will be able to slap the Atom chip into the current Eee PC 900 (and maybe even Eee PC 701) series computers without making major changes that would require a whole new product design.

[via Eee PC News.de]

Sharp has just announced what is being described as the first computer that will hit the market using Intel’s new low-voltage, high-power Atom processor. The Sharp D4 will be out in Japan in June for Â¥39,800 or about $395 US. But there’s a catch. Users will also have to purchase a 2-year data plan for Â¥2,100 per month, more than doubling the price. Engadget reports you can also pick up a D4 with no data plan, but it will set you back Â¥128,600 or about $1250 US.

Still, the D4 looks pretty sweet:

• 1.33GHz Atom processor
• 5 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display
• 1GB RAM
• 40GB hard drive
• 2 MP camera
• 64-key slide-out keyboard
• WiFi and Bluetooth
• Windows Vista Home Premium and Microsoft Office Personal 2007
• Dimensions: 192 mm x 26 mm
• Weight: 470 grams
• Optional Bluetooth phone handset
• Optional GPS receiver

While the Sharp D4 is the first Atom-based computer to get a release date, it certainly won’t be the last. Intel officials say 20 more devices will be ready to ship soon.

If you think there are a lot of low-cost ultraportable computers hitting the market this year, just wait. Intel officials say the company expects low-cost computer shipments to top 100 million between now and 2011. Meanwhile, Asus president Jerry Shen expects to sell 10 million Eee PCs in 2008 and twice as many next year. This all according to a report from DigiTimes.

Now, this could all be a case of counting chickens before they hatch. After all, while the Asus Eee PC is selling like pancakes, all that shows is that the computer is filling a niche. It remains to be seen exactly how large that niche is. Originally low-cost computers like the XO Laptop and the Classmate PC were targeted at educational markets and developing nations. Now we’re starting to see similar computers marketed toward consumers in developed nations as well. But does everybody who owns a computer need a low-powered device without an optical drive to compliment their existing desktop or laptop? I mean, I know I do, but I’m a bit crazy like that.

On the other hand, we’re starting to see another trend in the liliputing market. While the first few low-cost laptops like the XO, Classmate, and Eee PC all sported flash memory and slow processors, newer models like the HP 2133 come packed with large hard drives and marginally faster processors. And soon Intel and VIA will each release their next generation low-voltage, high(er) performance chips which should give these tiny laptops quite a speed boost, making it possible that we could start to see people picking liliputers up as primary computers, not secondary ones.

There’s no doubt that the HP 2133 provides a lot of computer for a relatively low price. The base model is comparable to the Eee PC 700 with 4G of solid state memory, 512MB of RAM, and a tiny package weighing just over two and a half pounds. For $50 more you can get a 120GB hard drive and a faster processor.

But here’s the rub, the HP 2133 uses the Via C7-M processor, while the Eee PC uses a more common Intel Celeron chip. Now, Celeron ships have a rightly deserved reputation for being something less than speed demons. But as the Eee PC shows, they can get the job done. Meanwhile, when the Everex Cloudbook, with its low powered Via chip came out, Notebook Review found that it lagged behind the Eee PC in benchmarking tests.

According to CNet, HP went with the Via processor because it offers a “mix of performance and price.” But there’s another consideration HP was probably making. The company wanted to get a product to market soon. Wait too long and Asus will release the Eee PC 900, which will feature a larger screen and more memory than the Eee PC 700. But if HP can get their new low-cost ultraportable out the door first, a lot of early adopters could decide to go with the 2133. And looking at the current generation of mobile chips, there aren’t a lot of cheap and powerful options on the market right now.

In a few months, Intel is expected to come out with its Atom processor, which will be a low-cost, low voltage, but much more powerful chip than the Celeron. Via, in the meantime is working on its next generation chip, which will be called the Isaiah processor. HP expects to update the specs on its 2133 line in about six months, and by that time, it looks like the company will have several powerful, low-priced chips to choose from.