Dual Core Atom on the way

Posted September 23, 2008 at 05:42 PM by Shawn Ingram

Section: Computers, Desktops, Hardware

By now most of us are probably aware of the Intel Atom processor, the little chip inside nearly all of the netbooks out right now.  Intel has started shipping a desktop version of the processor with two cores.  Intel is saying that it is made specially for “nettops.“  A nettop being to a desktop computer as a netbook is to a notebook computer.

These new chips will allow for small footprint desktops with little electricity usage to be released at low price points.  According to the eWeek article, Intel is hoping the Dual Core Atom will help sell PCs in China and India for families who don’t yet have computers in the homes.  It could also be used for cheap computer for North American and European families who are looking to add another computer to their home.  It would also make sense for public terminals, such as in a public library where the PCs are usually used only for word processing and Internet access anyway.

On the nerd side, the processor has two cores, each running at 1.6 GHz, 1MB of L2 cache (twice that of the first single core Atoms), and “has a thermal envelop of 8 watts.“  Doesn’t sound too bad.  I wouldn’t expect it capable of running Crysis, but it’s not built for that anyway.  What comes out of this processor should be interesting.  Perhaps a cheaper Mac mini is in our future?  It certainly couldn’t hurt Apple.  Or, it could be used in the EEE PC desktop.  Either way, it should make for a decent consumer desktop for those who don’t need things like Photoshop or video editors.

Read [eWeek]