Intel to Wait Until at Least Q3 2010 to Release Ultra-Thin Notebook Processors

[Polaris573]

The halting of production of Acer's ultra-thin notebooks, and disappointing sales from all notebook manufacturers for this market segment has prompted Intel to wait until the third quarter to release its new line of Atom processors. Sources interviewed by DigiTimes hint that the release date may be pushed back even further if demand is not high enough by Q3. Notebook manufactures say that ultra-thin notebooks accounted for only 10-15% of their sales for 2009 instead of the predicted 20-30%.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[n-ster]

That sucks

 

[alwayssts]

Yeah, that does kind of suck for people in this niche.

Come next year though, we should have some awesome ARM stuff in 28nm with all it's combo iterations from companies like Texas Instruments and nVIDIA (Tegra 3).

That's not mentioning Bobcat, with two actual OOO x86/64 Athlon cores, even if it be 512k of cache apiece, with some kind of actual decent integrated video which should compete overtly well with atom while killing nVIDIA's little Atom add-on niche in the market.

Whatever Intel does, I hope they don't wait too long, and have a big update coming next year, or the incoming wave might actually hit them instead of them riding it as they have up to this point.

Even though this announcement sucks, this is certainly a space to watch. UTNB, netbooks, phones, media players, etc are all going to hit some serious bad-assery with the next (next?) iteration.

Some will be happy with the next ultra-thin/portable that can actually function as a decent laptop, I'll be happy with onslaught of surely 720p display phones with 720p capture, video out, etc, that will make me say: Ipod what? Ipad who? Netbook where? I got one thing in my pocket and it does everything I need it to on the go plus can hook up to a TV to watch a movie or play some tunes over surround sound. It also makes telephone (and video) calls.

We're so close to being 'there', where we can have awesome all-in-ones or products that can be a convenient form factor while still being good-enough.

Feel free to flame for forward-thinking, while we're all sad about the current goings-on.

Just know you don't have TOO long to wait!

 

[Sasqui]

That is a bummer. Should make the macbook fans happy - they wouldn't know the difference, LOL.

Typo first sentence.

 

[entropy13]

promoted* if you are wondering what word lol

Nah it's a more "complex" typo than that. Besides the misplaced m (or o, depends on how you look at it), a p is also missing, to make it "prompted."

 

[n-ster]

lol I just saw the word without reading the sentence and thought it was that

 

[Mussels]

so by ultra thin notebooks, i take it this doesnt mean NETbooks? they mean those weird notebooks with netbook specs? (like an atom with a 15" screen and zero balls to it)

 

[n-ster]

The 15" have the CULV processors, not the atom... So I think that means NETbooks are also affected

 

[FreedomEclipse]

well - Netbooks have seen a huge boom & it might just have come to a point where everone has one or they have an iphone & prefer that instead...

Im considering getting a netbook. Intel have this Atom N450 which really looks like the sheeps bollocks but the problem is - it get out performed by the Atom N280 which is a older processor - but the N450 is a little more Energy efficient then the N280 so battery life tends to be a little longer.

shame about the N450 - but not bad if you want a netbook that can last upto 6-8hours on 1 charge.

 

[Tartaros]

Notebook manufactures say that ultra-thin notebooks accounted for only 10-15% of their sales for 2009 instead of the predicted 20-30%.

Of course they sold less than expected, who wants to buy a crippled notebook with atom and ulv cpu when it costs exact the same as a notebook with core 2 duo and i3 xD

 

[DrPepper]

Not a big fan of the current atom processors tbh and I don't think the new one's are much better.

 

[iluv2fly]

My 5 cents!

I believe there was a good reason why the category did not sell well. First of all, the smaller Ultra Thin/Ultra Light Notebook (ULN) with a CULV processor will be compared with netbooks both size and price wise. If a ULN has a higher price tag byers expect it to be better than a netbook.

The CULV processor might have had a slight performance lead on an Atom processor but a netbook with an ION graphics processor could just do more for less money. If intel want to sell in the ULN category they need to make sure they also has a good enough graphics solution to go with it. High end Netbooks do and they are cheaper! The ULN 4500MHD graphics is not good enough when it is paired with a slow processor!

There is also another major screw up. Not so much intel's fault but the design of these ULN are horrible. You have to look at how they are used and what they are used for. Small computers are great because You can take them anywhere. Well if You want to use an ULN you are stuck to a table, that is if you want to listen to anything. Why you wonder??? The designers were dumb enough to put the speakers under the ULN so if you take it with you, crawl up in your bed and try to watch Hulu or Youtube then You can't hear anything but muffled sound. My old Hp MINI for half the price could do that flawlessly!

If You look at the design, pretty much all ULN suffers from extremely poor speakers placement. Who ever designed the ULN can not say that it can't be done. They managed to do it on the smaller netbook so it is just poor design/engineering in my eyes. Pretty much all ULN regardless of manufacturer has the speakers under the computer!

Things that needs to improve are:

- The Price need to be competitive with netbooks
- The graphics needs to be competitive or better than Netbooks!
- Place the speakers so we can hear them!

 

[n-ster]

I must disagree completely... Alright I'll tell you why in a couple hours lol

 

[n-ster]

I believe there was a good reason why the category did not sell well. First of all, the smaller Ultra Thin/Ultra Light Notebook (ULN) with a CULV processor will be compared with netbooks both size and price wise. If a ULN has a higher price tag byers expect it to be better than a netbook.

They are MUCH better than a netbook

The CULV processor might have had a slight performance lead on an Atom processor but a netbook with an ION graphics processor could just do more for less money. If intel want to sell in the ULN category they need to make sure they also has a good enough graphics solution to go with it. High end Netbooks do and they are cheaper! The ULN 4500MHD graphics is not good enough when it is paired with a slow processor!

Ah, but the lead of a CULV vs an Atom is HUGE.... ION graphics is SEVERELY bottlenecked by the Atom, so much so the even a single core su3500 and a 4500mhd will beat the dual core Atom 330 with ION.... A high end netbook is an Atom 330 w/ ION 1GB RAM, and at the same price range, or barely more, a dual core su2300 w/ 4500mhd 2GB RAM (I'm thinking the Acer 1410), which outperforms the netbook incredibly... Furthermore, I find the 11.6" screen to be much more practical than a 10.1", I find it has a better size vs functionality ratio

There is also another major screw up. Not so much intel's fault but the design of these ULN are horrible. You have to look at how they are used and what they are used for. Small computers are great because You can take them anywhere. Well if You want to use an ULN you are stuck to a table, that is if you want to listen to anything. Why you wonder??? The designers were dumb enough to put the speakers under the ULN so if you take it with you, crawl up in your bed and try to watch Hulu or Youtube then You can't hear anything but muffled sound. My old Hp MINI for half the price could do that flawlessly!

If You look at the design, pretty much all ULN suffers from extremely poor speakers placement. Who ever designed the ULN can not say that it can't be done. They managed to do it on the smaller netbook so it is just poor design/engineering in my eyes. Pretty much all ULN regardless of manufacturer has the speakers under the computer!

Things that needs to improve are:

- The Price need to be competitive with netbooks IT IS
- The graphics needs to be competitive or better than [ION] Netbooks! IT IS! BECAUSE OF THE ATOM BOTTLENECK!
- Place the speakers so we can hear them!

As for the speaker problem, I haven't noticed this problem. It may be only for a select number of models. And if they suffer of this problem, I am sure many netbooks should have this problem too... Also, many people use headphones or earbuds, which lessens the problem