Intel Presses On With Atom, Ships Cedar Trail Chips

The world's largest chip maker this week began shipping two new version of its Atom series called Cedar Trail, according to IDG News. The Cedar Trail series features enhanced graphics capabilities and supports HD video playback and Blu-ray movies. Previous editions of the Atom platform lacked HD video support, which was viewed as a major drawback for the consumer-focused netbook.

The new Cedar Trail chips shipping this week are actually designed to run in entry-level desktops and all-in-one PCs as well as netbooks. The Atom D2700 dual-core processor features a 2.13 GHz clock speed and can run two threads per core, while the dual core D2500 has a 1.86 GHz clock speed and supports one thread per core. Both chips are built on Intel's 32-nm architecture and support up to 4 GB of memory. Cedar Trail-based systems are scheduled to launch in November, according to Intel.

Even as tablets continue to eclipse netbooks and Intel itself focuses more attention on its new "Ultrabook" category, the chip giant insists it's still committed to the Atom platform. Netbook sales have slipped over the last two years, and Intel is turning its attention to promoting Ultrabooks.

Intel describes Ultrabooks as thin, high-performance notebooks with faster boot times and longer battery life. Ultrabooks are expected to be significantly more expensive -- around $1,000 -- than the low-cost netbook.