According to Fudzilla, Intel plans to launch the first chip(s) in its upcoming Pine Trail lineup on January 3 of next year. The 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor will incorporate memory and graphics functions on a single chip, and will offer many benefits. In addition to the obvious performance boost, Intel's upcoming platform consumes less power and is more compact -- all major bonuses for netbooks and related systems.

Intel is also supposedly aiming to launch a faster Atom chip come March, which will be the 1.86GHz N470. It is reported that the Atom N450 will be priced at $64, or $20 more than the currently available 1.6GHz N270, while the N470 will cost $75 (note again, the memory and graphics controllers will be on-die -- so the cost difference is probably negligible).