HP asking Intel to ease up on Atom netbook rules?
updated 02:55 pm EST, Thu January 1, 2009
HP Large Atom Netbooks
HP is planning to introduce larger netbooks that will require Intel's cooperation to come into being, claims from notebook makers in the Taiwan area suggest. The American PC builder is presently capped at launching netbooks no larger than its 10-inch Mini 1000 but would allegedly like to introduce systems with 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch screens that still use the very low-cost Atom processor at their respective roots. Intel has traditionally insisted that systems with these larger screens use its more conventional but also much more expensive and power-hungry notebook chips.
No other details of the systems themselves have slipped out through the leak, though it's believed HP as one of Intel's best customers will have little trouble negotiating a deal by the end of the month and could release both of the larger netbooks during the spring. It's not known whether this would be a special exemption or a permanent rule change that would apply to all companies, though Dell's Inspiron Mini 12 already defies Intel's limits and uses multiple Atom speed grades.
