Intel has started to supply Cedar Trail chips to computer makers, which means that we could start to see netbook and desktop computers with the new Intel Atom processors by the end of the year.
The Cedar Trail platform covers a range of new chips including the Atom N2600 and N2800 notebook chips and D2500 and D2700 desktop chips. The new 32 nanometer chips are expected to offer better overall performance and much better graphics performance than today’s 45nm Atom processors.
The new processors will have clock speeds as high as 2.13 GHz will be able to handle 1080p HD video playback, HDMI video output, and Blu-ray video.
While most Atom chips on the market today can only support up to 2GB of memory, the new processors will be able to work with up to 4GB of memory — although I suspect most netbooks and other low-priced Atom computers will continue to ship with just 1GB to 2GB of RAM.