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

[Gordan Bobic]

On 05/19/2012 12:49 AM, Henrik Nordström wrote:
> fre 2012-05-18 klockan 10:34 -0700 skrev Baybal Ni:
>> http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4373279/ARM-aims-to-rise-in-notebook-PC-market
>
>
> "ARM processor suppliers are used to receiving about $20 for a chip
> going into a smartphone. Even if they increased the price to about $25
> as they tailor their chips' features to address PCs"
>
> i.e. they tailor their I/O capabilities to that of an A10.. which costs
> what?

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.

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. I don't think 
somebody looking for a new netbook will make the decision based on $250 
vs $300. They are much more likely to make a decision based on the 
features (screen res, RAM, battery life). And at least on the RAM we are 
hamstrung by the SoC capability.

Annoyingly, the CPU is also not the biggest power drain on the battery 
(although it is a substantial fraction).

Gordan