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Intel shows tablet, dual-core Netbook

Intel showed a dual-core Netbook and tablet at its 2010 investor meeting.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Intel Vice President Mooly Eden showed a prototype tablet at the 2010 Intel investor meeting on Tuesday. Intel

Intel showed two future products--a dual-core Netbook and tablet design--at its 2010 investor meeting Tuesday, and didn't waste time in touting the advantages of an Intel-based tablet over the Apple iPad.

Intel Vice President Mooly Eden, who heads the chipmaker's client group, flourished a tablet and didn't mince words when comparing it with the iPad (though he didn't mention the iPad by name).

"You'll have USB, you'll have SATA (Serial ATA connector for storage devices), a cheaper memory solution, and you'll even be able to connect to your printer," he said. "And performance? We'll be able to deliver dual-core," he said, referring to the tablet.

Hewlett-Packard has also demonstrated an Intel-based tablet but given no specifics about shipment dates. And it has been reticent about its tablet plans in the wake of the Palm acquisition.

Eden also showed a dual-core Netbook based on Intel's Pineview/Pine Trail Atom technology. Intel

Eden also brought out an ultrathin Netbook running one of Intel's upcoming dual-core "Pineview" Atom processors. Pineview is the central processor unit, or CPU, part of the larger Intel Pine Trail Atom technology, which includes a supporting chipset.

Netbooks from major PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell are currently offered with single-core Atom processors, which provide good battery life but lack the performance of multicore chips.

The dual-core Atom for Netbooks is expected to be announced by early June and result in a number of new Netbook announcements. Intel already sells a relatively power-hungry dual-core Atom chip that is not intended for Netbooks but targeted at small desktop PCs.