Intel on Wednesday started shipping the latest Atom chips for netbooks, an important step to sustain growth of the low-cost PCs in the wake of the tablet onslaught.
The dual-core chips, part of the platform code-named Cedar Trail,
bring better battery life and overall improved performance to netbooks,
Intel said in a statement. Top PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard,
Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, Asus and Samsung will ship netbooks with Cedar
Trail chips beginning in January starting at US$199.
Intel has doubled graphics performance on the chips while reducing
power consumption by up to 20 percent compared to Atom predecessors
introduced two years ago, the company said. The new chips will help
netbooks provide up to 10 hours of battery life on one charge, Intel
said.
Intel introduced the Cedar Trail chips ahead of the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas Jan. 10-13. Intel is expected to talk
about its latest chips for smartphones, tablets and PCs at the trade
show.
Cedar Trail chips are an important step in Intel's efforts to improve
netbooks, which have been hurt by growing demand for tablets such as
Apple's iPad. An Intel spokeswoman said that while device makers can put
Cedar Trail chips in tablets, most of the company's customers are
opting for Intel's upcoming Medfield or Clover Trail tablet chips for
tablets.
Intel is retaining a positive outlook for netbooks, despite the
threat from tablets. While netbook shipments have dropped in the U.S.
and western Europe, the market is growing in developing countries such
as India and China, Intel said.
The new chips allow netbooks to play back high-definitions and
support for HDMI (high-definitiion multimedia interface) ports on the
chipset will allow netbooks to be hooked up to high-definition TVs.
Other features include wireless display technology to beam PC images
wirelessly to TVs.
The new chips include Atom N2600, which runs at 1.6GHz and draws 3.5
watts of power, and the N2800, which runs at 1.86GHz and draws 6.5 watts
of power. Intel in September introduced Cedar Trail chips for low-cost
desktops.
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