I’ve never been one to say that a netbook needs to have an Intel Atom processor or that every laptop with an Atom CPU is automatically a netbook. But if you define a netbook as small, light, and cheap, it becomes clear that one of the easiest ways to build a system meeting those goals is to go with Intel’s low power Atom chipset. It’s cheap and it doesn’t need a lot of cooling, so it can fit into tight spaces.

And that’s one of the reasons I’m a bit baffled by the 14 inch Atom-powered notebook the folks at Shanzhaiben discovered at a Chinese trade show this week. Because really… what’s the point of putting an Atom chip in a full sized laptop?

On the bright side, the laptop is cheap, coming in at the equivalent of about $410 US. And nobody will complain that the keyboard is too small. To be honest, this notebook looks like a perfectly nice machine. I just would have expected something a little more powerful than an Atom processor in a machine this size.

via GadgetMix

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8 replies on “Chinese company crams an Atom CPU into a 14 inch netbook for some reason”

  1. Yes there is nothing wrong with these machine but still i am with ninety nine as we can buy much better machine in the same price.

  2. I see nothing wrong with a 14 inch netbook. One thing for sure, it should run a lot cooler with all that open space under the hood.

  3. Problem is you can buy Pentium M business laptops for around the same price and their build quality will be far and away better.

    Then it depends how much battery life you want on your 14″ laptop. My dad for example uses his 14″ as a desktop replacement and it never moves. It’s not like this 14″ is gonna have lots of battery life, these Chinese laptops seem to come exclusively with 3 cell batteries.

    The Atom’s are cheap, but they’re pretty much on the same level as Pentium M’s, so it’s still not a instant sell.

  4. I agree with you guys completely. Bring on the 14″ wave of netbooks I say. I think the older demographic is left out of the netbook world and why not have larger screens and the same limited performance from Atom? It’s more than what my parents need.

  5. My mom, who does not need anything more than what an Atom could offer, refuses to buy any laptop that does not have a 14″ or larger screen (due to her worsening eyesight). There is no reason why a big machine has to be powerful.

  6. Not sure about the weight or thickness of that machine. I wouldn’t mind seeing a “netbook” in a form factor similar to a Macbook Air — I’d accept a low-powered processor in exchange for less heat, longer battery life, and a smaller price tag.

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