While it’s not much of a big-seller for the past months, it seems that Intel Atom chips are heading for its end. Intel recently published its financial results for Q4 2011 as well as for the whole year. However, despite its large overall record sales, this wasn’t enough to save one particular CPU series from its decline.

According to the report, the revenue brought by the Atom micro-architecture was of $167 million. This figure doesn’t sound that bad, but compared with the third quarter of 2010, it shows a 38 %drop, and as much as 57% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

Atom is Intel’s series of central processing units for low-cost and low-power systems and mobile products. It had a very good run by the time netbooks were a hit. However, this has changed since the tablet came into the picture. In addition, Atom also had rival s in the market, such as the NVIDIA Tegra 2 and Qualcomm Snapdragon.

One may think that the Santa Clara, California-based IT giant is quietly and slowly letting go of the Atom name in order to avoid the shame in terms of power efficiency, compared to ARM units. Nonetheless, the chips themselves won’t disappear, even if netbooks and the Atom processors do.

via softpedia

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Netbook developer NEC have released two new netbooks into the Japanese market including a high specification netbook that uses the dual core Intel Atom N550 CPU and a slightly less power packed netbook that uses a single core CPU.

The NEC LaVie Light BL550, as it is known, packs quite a punch with it’s top drawer specification list which includes the 1.5GHz Atom N550 dual core processor, a 10.1-inch display (1366×768), a 320gb hard drive, 2GB of RAM and the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. The BL550 also packs quite a punch when you get to the checkout to pay for it. Coming in at 85,000 Yen ($993 according to xe.com), this is one of the most expensive netbooks on the market currently.

If your budget doesn’t quite reach to the price of the BL550 then fortunately, NEC are also releasing the LaVie Light BL350 which uses a single core processor. Using the 1.83GHz Intel Atom N475 CPU the BL350 also has a 10.1″ display, a 250GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and runs the Windows 7 Starter Edition operating system. This model costs 70,000 Yen ($818 via xe.com).

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When Intel initially released the Atom D330 dual core processor, it was released for desktops and nettops, while a variant was used in netbooks. Now however, Intel have officially released the first dual core processor design specifically for netbooks.

From next month onwards, we should see the N550 1.5GHz processor feature in netbooks released after then. The N550 will feature a similar graphic chipset to the N455, single core processor. It will also feature an updated memory controller, which supports DDR3 memory. We will also see the processor have a similar number of physical cores, as the Core i3s, i5s and i7s do.

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Netbooks are supposed to be portable and Intel goes one further by showing off this ultra thin netbook concept at Computex in Taiwan. It doesn’t say exactly how thin it is but, you can see from the pictures how thin the device actually is, with UberGizmo describing it as “magically thin”. Not many specs about the concept netbook are known but, we do know it features the latest Intel Atom processor for netbooks, as well as using DDR3 RAM. Last time Intel showed a concept netbook/laptop, the Voodoo Envy 13 was created, so it’s assumed Intel are hoping to do the same this time, as well as showing off what is possible to do with Atom processors.

The company are also showing off a tablet at Computex, again equipped with an Intel Atom processor. It also has a web cam and USB port. Other details on the tablet are unknown though but, more details are sure to surface.

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Following on from the release of the Intel Atom Pine Trail processor, which is replacing the N270 and N280 CPUs found in many netbooks, the company appear to be working on another “trail” processor. This time round, it’s the Oak Trail and will replace the Z5xx series of processors. Currently, the Z5xx processors use less power than the N-series and also have GMA 500 graphics. Examples of netbooks which use the Z5xx processor, include the Sony Vaio P and the Asus Eee PC T91MT.

The Oak Trail processors will, according to PC Watch, use less energy than the recently released Pine Trail processors. Again, we should see the Oak Trail CPU slowly replace the Z5xx processor in netbooks.

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The Atom processor from Intel has found its way to more devices than just standard computers and notebooks. They’ve shown up in cars, robots and even a microwave! Here’s another new device, one that lets you control your home appliances more easily.

The OpenFrame 7 from OpenPeak, which just passed the FCC, looks like a digital picture frame but certainly does not act like one. It is a home automation device that can control appliances which are ZigBee compliant, has both a touchscreen and dynamic speakers, is bundled with numerous applications and is compatible with OpenPeak’s VoIP phones. The unit can also connect both via WiFi and ethernet and can monitor energy usage in your home. Some of the bundled apps are a RSS reader, a picture viewer (of course) and an instant messenger.

While it does look like a 7″ all-in-one, the underlying Linux OS with its apps looks quite attractive to use. Unlike a full-blown computer, this one is focused on just delivering content and controlling devices in your home with a simple interface. You won’t be having trouble using this in the kitchen for your recipes or in the workshop to show some how-to guides. The small footprint also makes it more ideal to use in other parts of the home, and it can also be wall-mounted.

With all the features in this device, I’m guessing it won’t come in cheap. There is no firm price on it yet and no release date but OpenPeak has partnered with GE so it is possible that the device will be sold by them or even through some other channels like utility or internet providers.

source OpenPeak via wireless goodness

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Psystar allow consumers to purchase laptops, PCs and more recently netbooks, with Apple Mac OS X installed on the machine. After a legal battle from Apple over the use of the operating system, Psystar have now got a permanent injunction, preventing them from selling any devices with an Apple OS.

The company is also banned from “copying, selling, offering to sell, distributing or creating derivative works of Mac OS X without authorization from Apple” and “intentionally inducing, aiding, assisting, abetting or encouraging any other person or entitiy to infringe on Apple’s copyrighted Mac OS X software.” Apple have also recently released an upgrade, preventing netbook users, or any other Intel Atom powered device, from using Mac OS X Leopard. Thanks to the hacking community though, it’s now possible to bypass the restriction with a patch.

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With the recent update from Apple for Mac OS X 10.6.2 Snow Leopard, it prevented netbooks from running the Operating System. Users with hackintosh netbooks were advised to not update in order to continue running Snow Leopard. Thankfully a patch has now been released allowing hackintosh users to update their machines. The patch has been posted over at the InsanelyMac forums and has been tested over the past week and confirmed working. MacObserver also note, that when an update is released from Apple, it’s wise not to upgrade immediately but, rather wait for a patch to come out.

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Let’s, the Sony Vaio P has this CPU, and so does BenQ and even the Eee PC T91. In case you’re wondering what’s the difference between these two Intel processors aside from the fact that they are great for netbooks and other ultra-portables – well, the Z processors are said to be using less power. Comparing it with the Intel Atom processors, netbooks running on Intel Z processors provide longer battery life. The catch is – netbooks with Z-processors are a bit weak when it comes to playing Flash-video or doing multiple tab-web browsing.

So, now here’s the news, according to Digitimes, Intel will soon stop supplying the Z processors to netbook manufacturers. The report said that Intel is starting to deplete its inventory of the said processor. The good news is – outstanding orders from Acer, Asus and MSI will still be provided but that will be the last. After fulfilling their outstanding orders.

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In September, Intel will be holding an event in San Francisco showing off a number on new technologies. One that’ll interest netbook users, is that netbooks will be shown with the N450 CPU. Today’s netbooks with an Intel CPU use either the N270 or N280 which is pretty much just as fast as the upcoming processor. However one main difference is that the newer processor consumes less power keeping the netbook cooler for longer and on for longer with improved battery life. The N450 is also smaller in size, meaning the netbooks taking advantage of the new technology will be thinner than current netbooks.

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