Is it too early to start asking for Christmas gifts?

[Michael Haney]

On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 11:58 PM, Michael <mmorse757 at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.pcworld.com/article/172038/nvidia_tegra_mobinnova_N910.html?tk=rss_news
>
> I /want/ one!
>

I've always had this sense that Nvidia might be able to outdo Intel
and AMD with a netbook CPU.  Ever since I read some time ago that they
planned on getting into that market with their own processor I had
this feeling that they'd show us something impressive.

The only reason the Intel Atom processor exists is because Intel
didn't want VIA becoming a major contender in the netbook market which
was in its infancy but showed signs that it would become very big.
Which it indeed has beyond analyst's expectations.  The big problem is
Intel has been afraid that the Atom, which they loose money on, would
become adopted for desktops thus eating into a portion of their
lucrative desktop processor market.  This is why its taken them so
long to develop a dual core Atom processor at a faster clock speed.
In many ways Intel is in competition with themselves!

Manufacturers have been looking at more powerful alternatives to the
Atom, which is why many were speculating on using ARM processors.
Assuming Nvidia can deliver these Tegra processors with more power,
better or comparable energy savings, and at a lower or similar price
to the Atom they've got a real shot at doing what VIA failed to do.  I
predict we'll start seeing these CPUs appear in netbooks by late 2010
if not sooner.  The fact that is an x86 architecture chip is a major
plus and less of a radical change than switching to ARM.

Though,, I do admit ARM based netbooks would indeed be awesome.

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
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