HP To Introduce Dual-Core Intel Atom N550 With Mini 5103 [According To An HP Support Document The Mini 5103 Netbook Will Get A Dual-Core Intel Atom N550 Processor Powered Variant]

Posted on TFTS by Jeff Baker on Saturday, 28. August 2010 under: Computers & Computing, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

While desktop and laptop computers alike have been living happily with their dual, quad and even high core processors, lesser devices have not been so fortunate. However, if you take a look at even today’s latest smart phones which amass 1GHz processors and soon 1.2GHz processor, you can see that the gap is rapidly getting smaller.

On the netbook side of things the same could be said. Originally, most netbooks shipped with an Intel Atom processor clocked around 1.6GHz but now that technology has increased. in some cases hardware manufacturers have managed to stuff up to Core i5 CPUs into these little devices. Unfortunately, such a device brought with it a high price tag which translated into lower sales and discontinuations.

Luckily, Intel has been working on a dual core Atom processor for some time now dubbed the N550. This processor, while no where near as beefy as say a Core i7, would aid net books in tasks like 720p video playback. However, without any netbooks powered by the N550, there is no telling how it will actually stack up against the competition.

Today, HP has put up a support document on their website that gives us some promising information. If you’ll remember, earlier this month we told you about the HP Mini 5103 netbook that came complete with a 10.1-inch screen and Intel’s single core Atom N455 and N475 processors. Well, according to this document, HP will soon be upgrading the Mini 5103 netbook to include the fabled dual-core Atom N550 processor.

Considering the Mini 5103 currently retails for around $500 bucks with the N455 processor, expect to see that price tag increase dramatically once they manage to get an N550 in there. Of course, if you’re looking for the latest technology you’re always going to be paying a premium whether you want to or not.

We’ll let you know when the dual-core Atom N550 touting HP Mini 5103 actually goes up for sale.

Source