Why Atom processors aren’t getting any faster

A few of us have been expecting a slight speed bump for the new Atom processors since we all know that Intel will often bump the speed as well as the features each time they introduce new CPUs. That doesn’t see to be the case for the new Pineview ones.

Intel’s Client Platform Marketing Manager David McCloskey explains that they decided not to increase the speed since it “doesn’t need to be any faster.” For the most part, he says that the focus for this market segment, which includes netbooks, is price and power. A faster processor and you leap into notebook territory price ranges, plus you need bigger batteries to deliver the same battery life, another increase in cost.

The is however a rumored 1.8GHz Atom due to be out in the middle of the year but Intel didn’t comment on it.

I agree that they need to focus on not making it costlier since a netbook for most buyers is a second computer. The next step would be to make them cheaper, I think, so that even more of us can get a netbook in our hands.

source APCmag