Intel Atom Pine Trail: the end of dedicated graphics chips?

At the Intel Developer Forum that is currently underway, the Santa Clara foundary has introduced the latest version of its Atom Pine Trail. Planned as the successor to the current Intel Atom processors used in netbooks, this new chip also has a graphics part. Manufacturers of dedicated graphics parts, like the NVIDIA ION, are no doubt wondering where they will go next.

The Pine Trail uses the same principle as the NVIDIA ION, with the graphics part built into the same chipset. The difference with Intel however, is that the Pine Trail also includes the processor! What we have then is an all-in-one chip that calls to mind AMD’s "Fusion" technology (still in gestation).


Cheaper and improved battery life

On paper this technology looks very good. Energy consumption is of course down, as is its size, manufacturing costs and integration into the machine. It should mean cheaper machines that are also smaller and give better battery life. All good then!

In practice unfortunately the chip hasn’t been completely optimised yet. The graphics part still struggles with 3D and only supports video encoding up to 480p max. Forget HD for now then; for that we’ll have to wait for the next generation of chips.
This is a real shame as it means you have to use another chip designed to load video and 3D, which totally undermines the Pine Trail's standing as an all-in-one chip.

A premature end for the ION chipset?

The worst of it all is that it looks as if Intel may be trying to lock off the platform. Manufacturers of competing chipsets that integrate a dedicated graphics part could have trouble getting their solutions to work. The Intel chipset now contains the memory controller that is physically linked to the processor.
This means NVIDIA with its ION chipset, for example, would need to offer its graphics part on its own as an extra. Let’s hope that Intel doesn’t go down this road because a market without competition is never very promising for the consumer.

Towards an era of all-in-ones

This new Intel solution should in any case evolve. The next gen should support HD video decoding. The netbook market may well develop into a market of all-in-one solutions: Intel on one side, NVIDIA and its TEGRA on the other and perhaps AMD with its Fusion?
One thing is sure, battery life will continue to increase and forthcoming netbooks should be able to break records in terms of slimness and weight.

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