Intel has released its new Atom processor following the same line where N450 comes from: Pine Trail. The new model number is N470, but there is nothing new over the N450 it seems.

Intel Atom processors have been rather popular in netbooks and nettops and everyone who put their money in such a small computer most probably bought one with either N270, or N450. There are virtually no other solutions, maybe the Via chip used in one variation of Lenovo’s S12.

The N450 was the successor of the much older, almost outdated n270/n280, they added 64 bit operating system support, Integrated graphics core, a memory controller thus pushing power consumption of the whole netbook down a few percents. Unfortunately, the new atom processor, N470, brings no new technologies, comes with the same 667MHz DDR2 memory support, the same graphics chip, the same set of instructions, the only difference is the increased operating frequency and a higher TDP as a consequence.

N450 had 1.66GHz, and 5.5W TDP to go with it, the new atom N470 has 1.83GHz clock rate and 6.5W TDP. 10.2% increase in clock speed and 18.2% theoretical increase in maximum power consumption. In netbooks where efficiency is king, and battery life is a must have this is not the kind of improved and new processor one would expect, and in my personal opinion this is the wrong way to go forward.

The 10% higher frequency will most probably go unnoticed, since both are only ‘good enough’ for most tasks, but the lower battery life will flash with vibrant colors. No one wants to give up 90 minutes of productivity (considering 9 hours with the same battery and N450) for a performance boost they aren’t even going to notice.

The model number may suggest that this processor is aimed at netbooks instead of nettops, but I’d like to express my strong belief that it’s not going to work. Maybe it sells well, but I’d still go for a netbook with N450.

Official N470 Data Sheet.