Intel: “Atom is fast enough, for now…”

It must be something of a record for Intel. 18 months after the debut of the original 1.6GHz Atom N270, and now in its third iteration, the nimble processor still sits at virtually the same speed.

All three models in the latest Atom series – the  N450 netbook chip, D410 desktop and D510 dual-core desktop processors – all clock at 1.66GHz.

There’s no technical reason that Intel’s engineers can’t put a little extra pep into the Atom’s step.

Instead, Intel Client Platform Marketing Manager David McCloskey agrees that the steadfast 1.66GHz ceiling is a marketing-led decision because the punchy little Atom “doesn’t need to be any faster”.

“If you look at the desktop segment it’s much different in terms of a (processor) refresh. But for the netbook segment, just giving it more performance is relative to other user benefits of the platform, such as cost and power” McCloskey told APC.

“Performance is obviously traded off against cost and power… we think where are now is the best solution for the needs of the segment.”

McCloskey didn’t tip his hat to the rumoured 1.8GHz Atom N470 due before mid-year,beyond the safely nondescript response that “Atom development will continue”.

For now, the N450’s 1.66GHz redline is in keeping with Intel’s design philosophy for the Atom – to create a processor down to a modest spec and power consumption, rather than up to a speed. In short, to deliberately make a processor that’s merely ‘good enough’.

Indications from reviews of the first netbooks fitted with the N450 ‘Pineview’ processor and NM10 Express ‘Tigerpoint’ chipset – a combo known as the Pinetrail platform – underscore that there’s no noticeable improvement in performance, apart from graphics capable of handling 720p HD and Windows 7 Aero.

Both the graphics core and memory controller are baked into the processor package, which is then paired with the NM10 Express chipset to act as an IO hub. It’s a two-chip design similar to the 32nm Westmere platform unveilled this week, although the Atom remains built using a 45nm process.


The big win for Pinetrail-class netbooks is battery life which can stretch past ten hours, thanks to the more efficient and integrated design.

Netbooks designed around Pinetrail rather than simply having the new N450 engine dropped in as a replacement for the N270 or N280 are expected to be slimmer and more often fanless due to the substantially smaller package size and lower power consumption of Pinetrail’s two-chip design.