Intel Atom processor die

This one is for the really techy readers out there. Intel recently started talking about the next generation Atom (i.e. netbook) platform, codenamed PineTrail. For those of you without a computer engineering degree or too much time on your hands, the net of it is that performance and power consumption will be improved and of course the price needs to stay in the same range.

The biggest technical change is moving both the memory controller and graphics core onto the CPU itself. AMD has had integrated memory controllers for a long time and Intel is going that way on mainstream CPU’s as well, but this will be a big first on the uber-budget Atom chip. By having both of these components on one chip, you simplify the actual manufacturing of the chipset. Since it will be on chip, the memory controller and graphics core will be manufactured using a 45nm process, compared to the 130nm process used for the chipset on the current Atom platform. Smaller transistors = less power usage

For those who want some more gorey, technical details, check out Anand’s excellently written article below.

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