Small is beautiful
Intel has given a public face to the processors previously just known by their codenames: Silverthorne and Diamondville.
The Atom is a new microarchitecture designed with low power as its priority, while maintaining the Core 2 Duo instruction set. The chip measures less than 25 mm², but still has 47 million transistors.
The Atom chips will be incorporated into the Intel Centrino Atom platform (codename Menlow), which will be the basis of a new generation of mobile internet devices (MIDs) that Intel describes as “simple and affordable Internet-centric computers.”
"This is our smallest processor built with the world's smallest transistors," said Intel executive VP and chief sales and marketing officer Sean Maloney. "This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry."
Intel promises these MIDs will make an appearance later this year but, in this announcement at least, didn’t comment on precise dates, prices or who would be making them.
