The Hackintosh community can let out one big sigh of relief now. The latest build of OS 10.6.2 (10C535) supports the Intel Atom platform unlike the previous version that caused so much panic and concern earlier in the week. Of course, as the source states, nothing is official until the final of version of the update is release, but it doesn’t look like Apple’s out to get the modders – yet. [via 9to5Mac]
Fudzilla is reporting that Intel’s new Atom N450 chipset – codenamed Pine Trail (see previous coverage here) — will officially launch on January 3rd.
That NVIDIA and Intel haven’t been getting along lately isn’t big news but it looks like NVIDIA has finally gotten up from the dinner table and left the restaurant in a huff. The epicenter of the problem appears to be NVIDIA’s Ion chipset, which provides some much needed oomph to netbook and nettop platforms. Intel wants to keep a distinct separation between its low-power, low-cost Atom chips and its more-capable Pentium chips. When NVIDIA’s Ion is added to an Atom platform, the extra power makes Intel’s higher-end (and higher-cost) CPU offerings a tougher sell.
Intel’s apparently putting the kibosh on orders for its super low-voltage Z-series Atom processors. The Z-series chips can be found mostly in UMPCs and MIDs but had also made their way into various netbooks like the 12-inch Dell Mini series and the Acer Aspire One 751h, to name a few, as they provided a nice loophole to the “no screens over 1024×600 resolution” rule.
Up and at them! Guess what’s coming this Rocktober? New Atom CPU. The N450 will replace the N270, according to DigiTimes. The N270 will still be available to manufacturers until the first half of next year but the N450 will start appearing later this year for a nice, technological cross-fade, if you will.
Intel just held a teleconference outlining some information on its next Atom platform, code-named “Pine Trail” and introduced a new beta version of its “Moblin” user interface for upcoming Atom-based netbooks, nettops, MIDs, embedded systems, and in-vehicle entertainment systems. Here are some notes from the call…
So eBooks are the Next Big Thing, and soon we’ll all be reading eBooks exclusively. How, though, will we find new eBooks? It’s not like there’s a unified standard for organizing and displaying catalogs of eBooks available for purchase on any device capable of displaying an eBook. If only someone would create such a standard! If I did it, I would call it “Open Publication Distribution System” and I would base it on the Atom syndication format.
The Intel Atom had a great first year. There probably wasn’t a day on CrunchGear where we didn’t announce or talk about a random gadget powered by the the Intel CPU. The new models keep on rolling too, with two new options announced today. One, bumps the CPU into previously unavailable speeds, and the other should find its way into MIDs.
Next month may bring a new and improved Atom chip from Intel in the 2GHz Z550. The CPU features low 2.4-watt power consumption, 512KB of level-2 cache, and a 533MHz frontside bus. It’s expected to be pretty close to the currently-available 1.86GHz Z540, with the added bump in gigahertz.
According to some, Intel is trying to focus its future business on their Atom processor, vying to get it included in anything that needs a CPU. Not servers, of course: Intel will keep pushing its Xeon CPUs for servers. Except for those instances where an Atom processor actually makes sense in a server…
We may see Lenovo netbooks packing NVIDIA and VIA chips pretty soon here. Digitimes is reporting that “Lenovo plans to launch 11.6-inch and 12.1-inch netbooks combining Intel’s Atom processor and Nvidia’s Ion platform in the second quarter of this year.”
The Intel Atom CPU is the golden processor of the netbook crowd but the next-gen VIA Nano might turn heads. The chip is set to drop some time in the middle of 2009 to help power the next round of netbooks.
By this time next year, the line between netbooks, UMPCs, handhelds, palmtops, netblets, MIDs, and whichever other portable internet doodads you can think of might get all the more blurry with Intel’s 32-nanometer “Medfield” Atom chip. The current “Diamondville” chip is 45 nanometers, which is already pretty small.
The Medfield chip is thought to be aimed more at the handheld market than the netbook market. Intel will apparently be pairing Medfield CPUs with a graphics chipset called PowerVR, which is currently used for ARM-based devices and is specialized to consume minimal power. That’s not to say that this same setup won’t be found in future netbooks as well, but it does point at a potential move by Intel into smaller and smaller device categories.
[via Reg Hardware]
Australia, land of kangaroos and terrible actors, must be beaming today, what with the news that someone there was able to overclock an Intel Atom processor to 2.38GHz. That’s the fastest we’ve ever seen an Atom run, as a matter of fact.
Of course, getting the processor, found in an MSI Wind, to run that was quite the challenge, as it should be. Not since Frankenstein pieced together his monster did someone go to such lengths to accomplish anything.
What does running an Atom at 2.38GHz gain you, aside from bragging rights? Nothing, I would guess, which is about par for the course when it comes to overclocking. It’s the old Slashdot axiom, “Because you can.”
PC Pro got a chance to put Intel’s dual-core Atom 330 chip through the wringer and found some interesting results. It seems that the 330 indeed outperforms the single-core N270 processor from Intel as well as the C7-D from VIA in all key areas except one: Microsoft Office 2003 performance.
There’s word that Acer may well release a nettop, sort of a headless netbook, without the Intel Atom processor early next year. It’s not that Acer is tired of the Atom or anything, but because sales of its Aspire series of netbooks are doing so well that the company doesn’t want to jeopardize the supply of Atom processors. So, it’s reportedly looking at using processors from the likes of AMD and VIA Technologies.
Or, if the supply turns out to be in tip-top shape, Acer might just continue with the Atom.
And maybe after that we’ll find out exactly who nettops are designed for!
These little netbooks that we hear about day in and day out are about to get a little zippier, thanks to Intel’s dual-core Atom chip – the 330 – shipping out to vendors. The September launch seems to coincide with what we’d heard earlier, so that’s good.
The 45-nanometer Atom 330 chip will feature the same 1.6GHz bus speed as the single core model, will have 1MB of level 2 cache, and will support DDR2 667 memory.
Samsung is the latest runner in the Atom-powered netbook marathon. No word on any specific details just yet, but we do know that the sub-laptop is gong to sport a 10-inch screen, three USB ports, an audio in and out along with a VGA output. Expect the lil’ guy to hit the Korean market at the end of October for a yet to be announced price.
Little Atom-equipped touchscreen PCs are dropping from more and more companies with NEC being the latest. These two models come in either 12- or 15-inch sizes and are obviously powered by Intel’s Atom processor clocking in at 1.6GHz. The units can be configured with either 512MB or 1GB of ram and comes with a sizable 80GB hard drive. Users have to deal with Vista Business Embedded via the touchscreen though when this guy launches. Speaking of launching, no word on price or availability just yet, but more than likely these types of ‘puters are gong to be purchased by large corporations / hospitals so don’t you worry ’bout it. m’kay?
Today Panasonic introduced the U1, an Ultramobile ruggedized handheld Toughbook designed for on the go computing. Created for in-the-field professionals, the super durable notebook weighs in at just over 2 lbs. By using Intel’s Atom processor the U1 gets a full-blown processor, allowing for a full-featured OS.
Panasonic announced the new notebook onstage today at IDF, marking the point by throwing it at Anand Chandrasekher, GM of the Ultra Mobility Group at Intel. After letting an “Oh shit” escape, the audience heard a few examples of BP testing the Toughbook in the field.
By using GPS, workers could trace locations of needed supplies, whether it be in the field or in inventory. With easy-to-use buttons, the unit could be operated even with gloves on. Connecting to a wireless network, updates could be made real-time in the field, without needing to retreat to an internet-enabled device.
I got a chance to play around with the lightweight notebook, and the thing really does feel sturdy. Of course I wanted to drop it to make sure it could still work, but they wouldn’t let me. (Ok, I didn’t ask – maybe they would have.) Anyways, I can totally see this thing standing up to real world conditions – it’s pretty solid.
Specs after the jump.
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