Intel is scheduled to launch a new Atom N450 processor later this year or early next year. The new chips aren’t expected to be significantly faster than the Atom N270/N280 chips that are currently available, but they should conserve battery life and combine some graphics functions and other features that are normally located on the chipset onto the processor itself.
Fudzilla is reporting that Intel plans to price the new chips at about $64, or $20 more than the Intel Atom N270, which sells for $44 today. This could help explain earlier reports indicating that netbook makers have said they’re reluctant to begin using the new chips.
Of course, the Intel Atom N450 will still be much cheaper than most other current generation Intel processors. An Intel spokesperson told me the company has no comment on the pricing.
this is beginning to look much like the N270 / N280 story, where netbook manufacturers stick with the tried and true / cost friendly vs latest greatest.
Beach sand (silicon) hasn’t gone up in price (yet).
But somebody has to pay for those human hours that went into
the design or the share holders will get upset.
Is this actually more expensive though? Now that the graphics and memory controller are on the chip will we see a decrease in the cost of the motherboard?
The chip itself may be more expensive, but what is the cost of the current package?
This just seems like Intels greed in wanting manufacturers to use their graphics chips is pushing manufacturers away from Intel. Both Via and AMD will have chips out by that time that most certainly will be cheeper than these.