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Intel Atom for UMPC

Darius Chang | Mar 03, 2008

It was once thought to be the smallest indivisible particle in the universe, and also a cool name for a super hero. So maybe that's why Intel has decided to officially name the Silverthorne and Diamondville processors as the Intel Atom. This processor, based on the latest 45nm technology, is designed for Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) and mobile Internet devices (MID). They will also carry the label Intel Centrino Atom to prove their inner beauty is, indeed, from Intel.

Small in physical size, the Atom chip draws at least 92 percent less power than laptop Core 2 Duo processors and runs at up to 1.8GHz clockspeeds. This will not only allow future laptop companions to have longer battery life, but may even finally let Windows Vista to be actually usable in UMPCs and MIDs.

However, there are legitimate concerns that the Intel Centrino Atom label will do to the UMPCs what Intel Centrino did to laptops. Currently, there are three main players in this niche arena--AMD, VIA and Intel. Should history repeat itself--and there is no reason it wouldn't--we might again see one player dominate the market through clever marketing rather than technological and pricing superiority.

So will this move create an unfair advantage based on the ignorance of consumers? Or do we really need a label and standardized platform to turn this niche market into mainstream fare?

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