Report: Next-gen Intel Atoms tinier, cooler - but only modestly

The next generation of Intel Corp.'s Atom family of processors will eschew a faster CPU in favor of an architectural overhaul that Intel and at least one analyst say will result in better performance over today's Atom-based netbooks and net-top PCs.

According to a report published Wednesday by the Hong Kong magazine, HKEPC, the upcoming wave of Atom CPUs, code-named Pineview, will include the single-core N450 for netbooks, and the single-core D410 and the dual-core D510 for net-top, or mini-desktop, PCs.

All will run at a clock speed of 1.66 GHz and come in single or dual-core versions, HKEPC reported, which talked to PC makers in Taiwan, according to a translation by the blog, Netbook Choice.

By comparison, today's single-core Atom CPUs, the N270 and the N280, run at 1.6 GHz and 1.66 GHz, respectively, while the dual-core N330 for net-top PCs runs at 1.6 GHz.

Despite the lack of an overt speed boost, the new Atoms will have several other advantages, reported HKEPC.

For one, they will run much cooler than existing Atoms. The N450 will use an average of 2 watts versus 4 watts for the existing N270, while its Thermal Design Power (TDP), a measure of the maximum amount of heat generated, is 7 watts, versus 16 watts for the N270.

By generating less heat, the N450 will be able to operate in netbooks without a fan. That, combined with the N450 chipset taking up one-third of the physical space of its predecessor N270, will enable manufacturers to build even smaller and thinner netbooks, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight64.

Brookwood, who said the leaked Atom specs appear "right on," also hailed the integration of the graphics processor and the memory onto the single NM10 Express chipset in the new Atoms.

"Integrating graphics and memory controller onto the CPU die will help with performance by getting rid of the evil front-side bus that's common to all of Intel's previous generation CPUs," Brookwood said. It also makes the new Atoms cheaper for Intel to build and more energy-efficient, he said.

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