[Arm-netbook] Report: ARM aims to take 20% of notebook PC market

[Gordan Bobic]

On 05/19/2012 11:37 AM, Tsvetan Usunov, OLIMEX LTD wrote:
>> Those figures are all of questionable relevance. According to this:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Atom_microprocessors#.22Pineview.22_.2845_nm.29_3
>> Atom N450 was $63 at release time (2009), likely a lot less now. Call it
>> $40.
>>
>> So if you are getting the A10 instead for $10, that's a total of $30
>> saving on the total cost of the $250-300 netbook. Then again, you can
>> get an average (by avreage I mean the same spec as any competing
>> products) Cortex-A8 netbook for €156, IIRC.
>
> A10 is $12 for orders from 10K up to 100K, but the $20-25 for Cortex A8 at
> 1GHz is correct for the other vendors like Freescale, TI etc

And you can still get a Freescale based A8 laptop for circa €150.

>> Either way, the point I am maling is that the CPU itself isn't all that
>> significant a fraction of the retail price of the machine.
>
> depend on what you have around the processor, A10 is very highly integrated
> the VGA/HDMI/Composite Video is all inside, which saves you space on the
> board and $$$ for external chips.

So is the N450. On-board GPU, MCH, PCIe.

> Also power supply is very simple, generally to make A10 computer you need
> AXP209+A10+memory and some connectors, to make same with other processor you
> put lot of chips around it which rise the BOM
>
>> somebody looking for a new netbook will make the decision based on $250 vs
>> $300.
>
> $30 savings in BOM = $90 savings in retail price ;)
>
> the $65 Mele probably come out of the factory to the wholesalers at $40-$45

Yes, but for a laptop you also need things like a TFT panel, keyboard 
and power brick.

Anyway, my original point was that competing on price at the bottom of 
the market is not sensible. All you have then is just another low-cost 
low-spec low-quality product. Having a slightly more expensive but much 
better product, OTOH, is a good way to distinguish it.

>> Annoyingly, the CPU is also not the biggest power drain on the battery
>> (although it is a substantial fraction).
>
> inteligently designed processor could save lot of battery drain

Yes, but it won't do anything about the 3W that the screen is going to 
be sucking up all the time.

Gordan