Freescale on Monday is expected to announce a new processor for netbooks that may challenge chip maker Intel on price in the low-cost computing space.
The company’s i.MX515 processor will run on netbooks, low-cost laptops that are designed to perform basic computing functions like accessing the Internet and running productivity applications.
Intel dominates the netbook space with its Atom processors, which are found in netbooks priced around US$299. Freescale hopes to drive costs down even further by putting its processors in $199 netbooks. Netbooks have gained in popularity since Intel started shipping Atom last year, and Freescale wants a piece of the pie as shipments continue to grow.
Freescale will demonstrate an i.MX515-powered netbook with Wi-Fi wireless networking made by Pegatron, a spinoff of Asus, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas between Jan. 8-11. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Pegatron would distribute netbooks with the Freescale processors.
In addition to lowering prices, Freescale hopes to improve battery life over Intel’s Atom chips, said Glen Burchers, marketing director at Freescale’s consumer division. Netbooks with Freescale processors will be able to run for around eight hours, according to the company. That level of performance would top the battery life of Atom-based netbooks.