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Intel Upgrades Hardware

Intel Ships New Atom Processors To PC Makers 59

Posted by timothy from the shipping-them-to-zoos-wasn't-working dept.
randomErr writes "Intel began shipping the new mobile Atom, formerly codenamed 'Cedar Trail', processors to manufacturers. As with most new chips it has more features and longer battery life. Intel said today 'Computing systems using new Atom processors will debut in early 2012 through leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.'"
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Intel Ships New Atom Processors To PC Makers More

Intel Ships New Atom Processors To PC Makers

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  • Cedar Trails? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nyder ( 754090 ) on Thursday December 29, 2011 @01:32PM (#38528812) Journal

    http://www.cedartrailsnudistretreat.com/ [cedartrail...etreat.com]

    Sweet.

    Oh, Cedar Trail. my bad.

  • ARM (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Intel is really afraid of ARM: they can't compete on energy efficiency and virtual machines makes their instructions unncecessary.

    • virtual machines makes [Intel's] instructions unncecessary

      Of Java virtual machines, ActionScript virtual machines, or JavaScript virtual machines, to which were you referring?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        All of them, you can also include LLVM and Android.

        • All of them

          Except all three of these virtual machines tend to have one annoying misfeature: lack of bindings within the VM to specific I/O devices on the host. In Java, Flash, or JavaScript, how does a program read a USB Human Interface Device that isn't a mouse or keyboard, such as a joystick, without requiring installation of native shims such as JoyToKey that might not be available for ARM? In Java SE or JavaScript, how does a program activate a computer's camera or microphone (after asking the user for permission)

    • That is so true Intel chips are great but they always run hot and they always use lots of energy.

      • This really makes it hard to get excited about the Atom range these days. With Intels own ULV chips sitting just above the Atom, & ARM's offerings evolving at a far faster rate than the Atom, why do I really want a device with one?

        Didn't they announce these chips last year?

        • Honestly, it largely depends on how intel decides to price them:

          If they continue with their recent trend of fairly aggressive pricing on 'real' CoreWhatever ULV chips, of which even the weakest 'celeron' branded ones are superior to the atom, and crazy optimistic pricing and deliberate crippling of Atom parts and boards, it will be hard to get worked up about them.

          If, on the other hand, Intel is genuinely getting a bit rattled by some of the fancier ARM gear, and chooses to price the Atom more in line

    • If Apple was able to change architectures *twice* on hte Mac, and also change OSes without preventing software from working, I'm pretty sure Intel and MS can pull it off too.

      68k to PPC (using emulation), PPC to Intel (using emulation), and OS9 to OS X (again, using emulation).

      Do we *really* need a modern CPU to carry instructions from a Pentium? no, it can be done with emulation. Same goes for Windows.

      I'm pretty sure a modern multiple core multi Ghz CPU would be able to virtualize that old win 3.x program t

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • I thought Intel was so far ahead on energy efficiency that it wasn't even close-- but that their absolute power consumption didn't scale down well. In terms of "getting crap done per watt", they have an edge from being a full cycle ahead of everybody else in the process-tech race. But they don't have chips that get anything done for less than a watt. The Atom was an attempt to address this-- it's substantially less power-efficient than an i7, but it uses less power.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        Typically the power problem for the Atom CPU is in the chipset it is deployed with, not the CPU itself. Early Atom MBs from Intel had a fairly large heatsink on the chipset, and the CPU itself was air-cooled...

  • What? They are still making Atom? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Thursday December 29, 2011 @01:39PM (#38528906) Homepage

    Where are they selling it? Don't get me wrong. I have a netbook. My wife has one. My son has one. We all use them... well, I haven't used mine for a long time ... it is something of a backup/skype device but that's about it.

    All the tablets and things coming out now are running ARM. Microsoft has already buried both the Atom and the netbook by blocking and discouraging them in every way they could imagine. Windows XP is no longer available through OEM and Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported. So what is Intel targeting?

    • All the tablets and things coming out now are running ARM.

      Come Windows 8, which expands support for capacitive touch tablets, Intel wants to be ready in order not to give the entire market to ARM. The big advantage of Atom is that existing non-free niche applications designed for Windows XP will likely run on an Atom-powered Windows tablet roughly as fast as they would on a PC with a comparably clocked Pentium 4. Because they're non-free, the end user can't recompile them for ARM, and because they're niche, the publisher is likely unwilling to.

      Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported

      Can you cite an article showing how Microsoft is responsible? Google 2 gb atom limit microsoft failed me.

      • Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported

        Can you cite an article showing how Microsoft is responsible? Google 2 gb atom limit microsoft failed me.

        The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows 7.
        ...
        Windows 7 Starter 2 GB N/A

        http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx [microsoft.com]

      • Re:What? They are still making Atom? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Graymalkin ( 13732 ) * on Thursday December 29, 2011 @02:29PM (#38529566)

        What the GP is talking about is Windows 7 Starter's 2GB RAM limit [microsoft.com]. You can stuff more RAM into a machine running Starter (which is most netbooks) but it will only actually use 2GB. To be able to use more than 2GB with your netbook you need to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium which is about $80, in addition to the cost to upgrade the RAM. This means the average $200 netbook ends up costing $400 to have a decent amount of RAM available.

        I've seen very few netbooks that ship with Home Basic or Home Premium out of the box, most I've ever seen have Starter. Not only is the RAM limit a problem but it also gimps a lot of basic OS features like the ability to use multiple monitors, DVD playback, and fast user switching. Microsoft has put a lot of work into making sure the average netbook is just a crippled web terminal.

        • If the problem is Microsoft, a solution might route around Microsoft. How should the developers of Linux distributions improve their offerings so that people can start demanding Linux netbooks again?
          • I've heard that Intel's Atom graphics drivers for Linux are pretty awful. Customers aren't exactly clamoring for netbooks with barely functioning graphics displays.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by tepples ( 727027 )
              Awful in what sense? The GMA 3100 in my Dell Mini 10 works fine in Xubuntu 11.10.

            • Only the one model using a PowerVR GPU has driver problems under Linux. The rest use the crappy Intel IGPs but at least they work fine with the open source drivers.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Lussarn ( 105276 )

                My cheepo ASUS 1015PN has nvidia ION2, full OpenGL support. Hardware accelerates any movie I throw at it (Well, the ones that needs it anyway), even 50GB bluray rips is no problem. Bitstreams DTS-HD Master and Dolby TrueHD over HDMI. Quite a little wonder, all hardware supported in latest Ubuntu.

                If you need a great Linux netbook, 1015PN is a nice choice.

          • The problem with Linux netbooks is that they pretended to be just like windows. No in the sense that they looked like windows, but in the sense that poeple treated them as small PCs, and then when they went to a website to download a small little program that wouldn't have a problem running on a netbook they found out that for some reason the program didn't run.

            The general public doesn't know enough about this linux thing to know how the app ecosystem works. Apple / Android worked around that with the App s

            • and then when they went to a website to download a small little program that wouldn't have a problem running on a netbook they found out that for some reason the program didn't run.

              That would have been kinda-sorta solved had the netbook makers decided to just preinstall Wine. That gets you half the Windows application library in one click.

              The general public doesn't know enough about this linux thing to know how the app ecosystem works.

              That's because at the beginning of the netbook fad, there wasn't yet anything with the high production values of Ubuntu Software Center.

              I know several non-geeky types who returned them for a Windows Xp machine of the day because of all the "things that didn't work"

              A lot of the problem involved the absolutely horrid distributions that some of the netbook makers foisted on their customers, such as the version of Xandros on Eee PC or the version of Linpus on Aspire One or the "Ub

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kenh ( 9056 )

        The power of Microsoft is their ability to discount the license fee for entry-level OS based on the RAM capacity, screen size and other assorted specifications. They offer significant OS discounts on hardware that can only accept 2 Gig of RAM and have a certain screen size (or smaller).

        Ever notice that some "netbooks" ship with Win 7 Home Premium x64 and some ship with Win 7 Starter? The ones that ship without Starter version of Win 7 can typically accept more RAM (4 Gig is not uncommon) and sport nice larg

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          The power of Microsoft

          ...is something we should figure out how to route around, as I pointed out above [slashdot.org].

    • Where are they selling it? Don't get me wrong. I have a netbook. My wife has one. My son has one. We all use them... well, I haven't used mine for a long time ... it is something of a backup/skype device but that's about it.

      All the tablets and things coming out now are running ARM. Microsoft has already buried both the Atom and the netbook by blocking and discouraging them in every way they could imagine. Windows XP is no longer available through OEM and Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported. So what is Intel targeting?

      I have an Atom based media center PC [shuttle.eu] that I'm very happy with. With SSD disk. No fans, no sounds, it is completely silent. And not much bigger than a book. Running Win7 MCE performance has been good, no issues playing back any HD format video.

    • All the tablets and things coming out now are running ARM.

      How many of those can run a proper Linux distro?

      Actually, I have a couple of ARM devices doing just that (N800, N900, Buffalo Linkstations) but the majority seem to be running some kind of a phone OS, and it is not straightforward to install your own distro. I don't have much love for x86, but at least the semi-standardized platform lets me run whatever software I want.

    • Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported.

      My Atom machine [zotac.com] has 3 GB currently installed, with a maximum of 4 GB.

    • Microsoft somehow has the power to make everyone cripple their implementation of Atom to 2GB or less RAM supported

      Only if they want to use Windows 7 Starter. There's nothing to stop someone making a netbook with Windows 7 Home Premium (in fact Asus's 12" netbooks do). Or for that matter Linux or Chrome OS or Android.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • All the tablets and things coming out now are running ARM. Microsoft has already buried both the Atom and the netbook by blocking and discouraging them in every way they could imagine.

      Tablets are hyped like crazy, but they sure as hell haven't replaced laptops and netbooks. Tablets are a joke by comparison. Sure, they're the trendy, fun thing, but rdesktop / citrix on them is a nightmare. No NX Clients exist. SSH clients are extremely primitive at best. Etc.

      Don't get me wrong, I love my Android phone,

  • there will be lots of buzz about them and then we can't actually buy anything( HP Slate or ARM netbooks ).

    It's really getting to be a habit for vendors to show prototypes at CES and other shows and then never put a product on the market. I'm not a fan of that unless it specifically states it's an OEM design or something along those lines.

    These 32nm and smaller Atom based devices have potential but when they spin them out at $400 and up they might just as well target them to a niche like the medical field. o

  • The problem is Microsoft's license terms. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dzimas ( 547818 ) on Thursday December 29, 2011 @03:52PM (#38530604)

    I recently bought a sub-$200 Acer with an N570 dual core Atom processor. It's better than I thought, especially after bumping the RAM. It looks like the Cedar Trail chips will offer a nice performance boost and lower manufacturing costs because of the SOIC integration.

    But...

    The stupid hardware restrictions Microsoft places on manufacturers to qualify for cheap OEM copies of Windows Starter have absolutely crippled the Netbook segment -- 1024x600 screen resolution and a maximum 1GB RAM is absolutely ridiculous in 2011. With a slightly higher resolution display and 2 to 4GB of memory, these machines would be extremely competitive in the low end portable market.

    • I recently bought a sub-$200 Acer with an N570 dual core Atom processor. It's better than I thought, especially after bumping the RAM. It looks like the Cedar Trail chips will offer a nice performance boost and lower manufacturing costs because of the SOIC integration.

      But...

      The stupid hardware restrictions Microsoft places on manufacturers to qualify for cheap OEM copies of Windows Starter have absolutely crippled the Netbook segment -- 1024x600 screen resolution and a maximum 1GB RAM is absolutely ridiculous in 2011. With a slightly higher resolution display and 2 to 4GB of memory, these machines would be extremely competitive in the low end portable market.

      Use an AMD C-series or E-series next to your $200 Atom netbook and you will realize just how much you were overcharged. Did I mention that they can play games, 1080p video, and have HDMI? Intel Atom sucks.

  • As the subject points out... The new Cedar Trail are now using PowerVR derived graphics core... anyone know what the status of Linux is for the PowerVR SGX 545?

    • Considering 64bit Windows will *never* get drivers nor support for DirectX 10, I would say completely abysmal.

  • Atoms are the weakest x86 chips currently on the market, by a substantial margin. The 32nm refresh won't change this, since the core isn't changing and clock speeds aren't being increased much if at all. It will, at least, fix the lack of 1080p video support. Still, it's hard to justify an Atom processor for even the most casual user when AMD Bobcat E-350 motherboards are available for $100 or so from good brands. And for a few tens of dollars more than that, you can get a decent if plain micro-ATX H61 moth

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