New Thinkpad NetBook, which chip? Atom N280 or Athlon Neo?

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Will Lenovo use the Athlon Neo chipset in its new ThinkPad NetBook or stick with the Intel Atom platform?

The Atom processor in the NetBook form factor has been a spectacular success for Intel but it is now probably limiting the growth of the sector. The current crop of NetBook’s like the excellent Lenovo Ideapad S10 are superb little ‘mini browsers’ and are in fact great for what most people need. Surfing the web, connecting on facebook and checking emails.

Limited to Windows XP and the inability to run quality video or any form of processor hungry ‘work’ application is now holding back the NetBook in the enterprise. Enter Matt Kohut and the innovative design team at Lenovo, and we have very strong indications that we are about to see an Enterprise capable ThinkPad NetBook.

Could it be the that we will soon see a ThinkPad T100 or a ThinkPad X100 Netbook complete with UltraBase, masses of storage and even BluRay capability? As HP have well illustrated with its superb Pavilion dv2, the market is hungry for capable but inexpensive ultraportables and the gap is beginning to blur between NetBook’s and inexpensive small form factor notebooks like the HP Pavilion dv2.

AMD has targeted this sector with its new Athlon Neo chipset which has more cache, an integrated memory controller and the 1.6GHz Neo is partnered with either ATI Radeon X1250 graphics, or ATI Radeon HD3410 graphics.

The higher-end option runs the Windows Vista Aero interface very well, handles some basic 3D gaming, and most importantly can play back full 1080p video. I think that it’s a master stroke by AMD from the price performance view point.

Intel in the meantime has confirmed on that it’s shipping the Atom N280 processor to PC makers, which will bring more performance and improved graphics capabilities to NetBook’s and slightly more power.

The new single-core Atom processor is paired with a chipset that allows users to watch HD video on NetBook’s whilst at the same time drawing less power. The Intel GN40 chipset has a hardware based high-definition video decoder onboard that allows users to watch 720p HD video. Great news for streaming video buffs and all those of us that like to catch up with Lost or 24 in our Hotel room!

The Atom chip was original conceived for NetBook’s to run basic applications like Web surfing and low level productivity applications, not be a mini entertainment system.

The Atom N280 runs at 1.66GHz, a marginal speed increase over the N270, which runs at 1.6GHz and also has a faster front-side bus running at 667MHz which connect the CPU to system components.

So Lenovo have a really tough decision on their hands when it comes to powering the new ThinkPad NetBook. Will the new ThinkPad T100 NetBook go for the Athlon Neo chipset or will they stick with Intel and run with the Atom N280?.

Matt Kohut has to do something radically different with the ThinkPad Netbook. Whilst road warriors appreciate the superb build quality that ultraportable ThinkPad’s offer we also like to play the odd game, maybe stream our favourite show, and even watch a DVD when we finish work.

After all, all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. So what’s it to be Mr Kohut? Will you opt for the substantially cheaper Neo chipset or go for the new Atom? Or maybe we will see two price levels? An entry level ThinkPad T100 Netbook with the Atom chip, and a higher end ‘luxury’ ThinkPad X100 Netbook ala the stunning ThinkPad X Series X300 A higher end ThinkPad X Series netbook would use the CULV recently announced chipset. CULV chips will be based on mainstream Intel chip designs, such as Intel’s Core architecture to differentiating them from the lower performance Atom processor, which powers low cost Netbooks. A NetBook with a CULV chip could turn the nche on its head!

So here’s a challenge to Matt Kohut. Update us on the ThinkPad Netbook and let us know what your thinking is. There are legions of ThinkPad fans waiting with bated breath Matt!