Send a Tip
RSS Feed
Follow us on Twitter
Today DigiTimes broke a story that Lenovo and Samsung violated Intel’s restrictions on usage of their Atom N270 processor by releasing 11.6 and 12-inch netbooks.
Likely as a measure to prevent Atom sales from cannibalizing the more profitable Core 2 lineup, Intel requires PC manufacturers purchasing Atom on a “preferential pricing” plan to keep the display size more in the “netbook” range. Apparently 11.6 or 12 inches is too much for Intel, as there is a report circulating that Intel has revoked Lenovo’s and Samsung’s preferential pricing status around the Atom N270 netbook processor.
If you look at Samsung’s planned 11.6-inch netbook and Lenovo’s already released IdeaPad S12, you’ll also notice another thing in common: both offer NVIDIA’s Ion platform. Ion stands to offer far superior graphics & video performance than the anemic 945 chipset included with Atom, while offering competitive battery life. NVIDIA has already complained that Intel prices the Atom chipset bundle cheaper than the CPU by itself, and the lawsuit between the two companies certainly isn’t making things any easier. Is Intel targeting some of the first manufacturers to offer NVIDIA’s Ion platform, or are they enforcing bulk pricing rules to help keep margins on their higher end products? Either way, is it ethical? We’ll be sure to bring you the latest news around this issue.
Source: [DigiTimes] via [Lilliputing]
Lenovo offers 
Coupon! Lenovo ThinkPad T510 15.6-inch Core i5 Laptop starts $1,344 - $345 off - 
Just released Lenovo ThinkPad W510 15.6-inch LED-backlit Core i7 Mobile Workstation starts at $2,049 - $460 off - 
Loading ...
intel seems to be following along with microsoft’s old business model..
monopoly, and i am not referring to the parker brothers board game..
You mean like the $1.45 BILLION fine the EU slapped Intel with over an anti-trust ruling involving AMD? Link
I think Intel should be VERY careful with their monopolistic business practices.
Selling the chipset at the price of the Atom alone will lead them to closer inspection with the EU officers. And those EU officers like anything but monopolistic behavior.
Without a blink of the eye they might put another half billion Euros penalty on Intel.
Only today they fined E.On and GDF some EUR 1.1 Billion on monopolistic behavior on gas prices.
Watch out Intel. you have great products and great marketing. But don’t overshoot!
[...] Here’s hoping Broadcom sells this puppy publicly, and soon! They’ve got a good chance to beat NVIDIA’s Ion platform in market saturation, as NVIDIA is still mostly on the sidelines. [...]
[...] HD resolutions, this solution is needed until integrated GPU’s can catch up. Or until Intel stops punishing people for using NVIDIA [...]
[...] has already been in the spotlight, and not the good kind, over pricing of their Atom platform that powers most netbooks today. And [...]