Word from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has it that Intel will be launching a new Core processor for ultra-thin laptops. Much like the recently announced Athlon Neo from AMD which aims at ultra-thin devices between $700 and $900, the new Core will aim at the mid-range between sub-$500 netbooks and above-$1500 notebooks. Roughly half the size of Intel’s standard Core 2 Duo processor with dimensions of 22 millimeters x 22 millimeters, the modded Core processor will be used in notebooks less than 25 millimeters thick (about 1 inch).
Because the chip will be aiming at a mid-range price point it won’t directly compete with Intel’s Atom processors. It’s likely the new chip is a direct effort by Intel to pad its profit margins. One of the main concerns with the popularity of netbooks is that the lower-cost Atom chips are beginning to cannibalize Intel’s higher-margin Core processors. By leveraging the ultra-thin mid-range the company can hopefully reverse some of this cannibalization.
(Image Credit: Intel)
