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Intel's New Atoms: 2 GHz Z550, 1.2 GHz Z515

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 15 comments

As expected, Intel’s finally pulled the covers off of two new Atom chips.

As expected, Intel’s finally pulled the covers off of two new Atom chips.

Joining the Intel Atom’s first birthday party are two new family members: the Z550 at 2 GHz and the Z515 at 1.2 GHz.

The Z550 is the fastest Atom yet, thanks to its clock speed. Feature-wise, it’s the same as the rest of Atom family with Hyperthreading being the main trick along with the thrifty under-3-watt power envelope.

The Z515, while slower at a top speed of 1.2 GHz, is a little more clever with the new Intel Burst Performance Technology which will run the chip at slower speeds (with lessened power demands) until the demand is there for full throttle.

Intel didn’t immediately reveal pricing for either chip, but expect the Z550 to be in the more expensive netbooks and nettops, while the Z515 will likely only be found in smaller mobile internet devices.

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  • 2 Hide
    onerec , April 8, 2009 3:15 PM
    I hope AMD/ATI produce processors for netbooks and nettops to have better competition.It helps customer to lessen Intel's overpriced products. I'm pretty sure that Intel will charge more $$ for these new processors.
  • 1 Hide
    StupidRabbit , April 8, 2009 4:00 PM
    Well in that case its prime time for intel to milk the cash cow.. AMD would have to come up with a direct competitor. Until then, we'll just be seeing nothing else in the netbook spec list. Maybe a little VIA.

    But on the other hand, i would likte to see some underclocked versions in smaller devices than netbooks.
  • 5 Hide
    thejerk , April 8, 2009 4:01 PM
    new chips, great... but what about improving the supporting platform??
  • Display all 15 comments.
  • 3 Hide
    tayb , April 8, 2009 4:11 PM
    These Intel Atoms can only go as far as the chipset will allow them and currently that isn't very far.
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , April 8, 2009 4:19 PM
    the regular Atom processor (1,6Ghz)was barely able to run Vista (and Win 7); what makes intel think a 1,2Ghz will be any better?
    Good enough for linux.
    Windows XP was on the edge with previous Atom 1,2Ghz processor, barely allowing you to watch youtube video's in Firefox,while IE just requested too many system resources for the tiny processor to handle all.

    As far as the Z550,it'll probably be too expensive, but will hopefully reduce the price of the 1,8Ghz Atom Z.
  • -3 Hide
    sunraycer , April 8, 2009 4:32 PM
    No mention on if either of these are dual core like the 330...
  • -1 Hide
    sunraycer , April 8, 2009 4:33 PM
    No word on if either of these are dual core like the 330...I'd guess not then...
  • -1 Hide
    sunraycer , April 8, 2009 4:35 PM
    oops. I hate it when I repeat myself myself.
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , April 8, 2009 4:58 PM
    single core with HT enabled. In Windows XP it will appear as a dual core.
  • 0 Hide
    sunraycer , April 8, 2009 5:04 PM
    Yeah, my 330 show up as 4 in XP. Think the dual core 330 would be better than the 2.0GHz Z550? Suppose it depends on the tasks (ability to use the second core (third or forth threads?)).
  • 0 Hide
    lamorpa , April 8, 2009 5:53 PM
    As expected,... finally... What kind of statement is that??
  • 0 Hide
    jacobdrj , April 8, 2009 9:01 PM
    If the price is the same, this is good. If the price is higher, what is the point?
  • 0 Hide
    hellwig , April 8, 2009 9:53 PM
    The reason we never saw any 1.8GHz netbooks was because Intel was charging more than twice the price compared to the 1.6GHz Atoms. Unless Intel reduces the price of the 1.8GHz (and the new 2.0GHz), we still won't see it in any netbooks. How do you justify putting an $80 Atom into a 12" "netbook" when for the same cost you can put in a Athlon with integrated ATI graphics and get more than twice the performance? And if you think people care that much about the extra power consumption, they wouldn't be making 12" netbooks in the first place.
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , April 24, 2009 12:00 AM
    These companies are trying to pollute the already poisoned earth. They make junks and claim technological break through but actually, ATOM and similar class by competitors are making backward leaning generation in a shrinkage designed fabrication. If they really care, these company should make extreme low power consumption quad cores instead and make sure all notebook's like desktop, upgradeable.
  • 0 Hide
    Anonymous , July 2, 2009 7:21 AM
    As long as there is a potential market increase, manufacturers will always be encourage to participate in the competition.

    Imagine if you are AMD/ATI/NVIDIA CEO, seeing 13 million to possible 100+ million market increase (please correct me if I'm wrong) by 2010, will you not send for a close door meeting to grab a share of the market for your corporation? Until then, netbook will always be here with us.