HP Prepping Dual-Core Atom Loaded Netbooks

 HP Prepping Dual-Core Atom Loaded Netbooks

New dual core Intel Atom N550 was listed for HP Mini 5103 netbook Documentation: http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02459092/c02459092.pdf

HP laptops and service manual leaks go hand in hand. This time, German website NetbookNews got its hands on HP Mini 5103 service manual that indicates dual-core Intel Atom inside it. New business-like looking HP Mini 5100 series netbooks -5101, 5102 and 5103 that will have new dual-core Atom processors. Though HP hasn't confirmed the launch of these netbooks, these new netbooks are rumored to be available next month. 

Packaged in magnesium and aluminum allow metal body, three new HP Mini 5100 series models would be made available with different Atom processors. The manual (PDF) of HP Mini 5103 lists the new dual-core 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 processor with 512KB cache and 667MHz FSB. As an option, HP will offer dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 and 1.83GHz Intel Atom N475 processors to choose from. Sporting a 10.1-inch screen, Mini 5103 will feature Intel NM10 chipset and SSDs for storage.

We must mention the optional capacitive touchscreen panel along with the 16:9 aspect ratio bearing display that this notebook carries. The HP Mini 5103 would be available for $400 and can cost higher as you keep adding components to it. So the only noticeable change would be the dual-core Atom CPU and we'll see dual-core netbooks in the coming months from other laptop makers too. 



Related news: CNET http://news.cnet.com/business-tech/?keyword=Atom.+N550


  

Dual-core chips migrating to smartphone market

Smartphones are on the verge of getting a major boost as chip makers ready dual-core chips that could accelerate performance for both applications and multimedia files.

Most of today's smartphones are capable of only 720p resolution high-definition video and come with processors touching speeds of about 1 GHz, but more and more users are demanding higher performance, analysts said. Next-generation dual-core processors could satisfy those demands by supporting full 1080p HD resolution for more demanding applications like videoconferencing.


Phone makers have yet to formally announce plans for smartphones based on dual-core chips, but the next-generation processors are coming quickly.


Qualcomm Inc. has already shipped its first dual-core processor, the MSM8660, to manufacturers and plans to start testing samples of a faster dual-core chip, the QSD8672, later this year. Texas Instruments Inc., meanwhile, is set to ship the dual-core OMAP4430 chip later this year. The chips could be running mobile devices by early next year.


Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64, said that with users running increasingly demanding smartphone applications, the higher-performance dual-core chips are needed soon.


He noted that manufacturers could boost single-core processor performance by ratcheting up the clock speed, but that would lead to excess heat and battery drain. Adding another core would be a more power-efficient way to boost chip performance while preserving battery life, he added.


TI and Qualcomm said smartphones running their new dual-core chips will be able to render Web pages and video faster, and play back 1080p high-definition video.


Smartphones are following the same path as laptops and desktops, which already use multicore chips. Multicore technology first appeared in IBM's Power4 server chips earlier in this decade, and later trickled down to PCs with processors built companies such as Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
The challenge to chip makers grows significantly as devices shrink. "The size, power and thermal constraints put in place by the end equipment are more relaxed in a PC than in a smartphone," said Robert Tolbert, director of product management for the OMAP smartphone business at TI.


TI's OMAP4430 is based on Arm's Cortex-A9 processor design and will run at a speed of about 1 GHz.
Devices based on Qualcomm's MSM8660 processor, which runs at 1.2 GHz, are expected to ship by the first quarter of 2011. The faster Qualcomm QSD8672, which runs at 1.5 GHz, will start sample testing by the end of 2010 and reach devices next year.      

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