Previously we mentioned about ARM core competes with x86 based processor, now seems that Freescale, the Austin based semiconductor company has announced the new i.MX515, an ARM Cortex-A8 core based processor readiness competing against Intel famous Atom processor in netbook market.
freescale

Don’t underestimate the processing power offered by i.MX515, the ARM Cortex-A8 core based processor is claimed to be able to deliver up to 2100 Dhrystone MIPS with the potential maximum core frequency clocking at 1GHz. This is far more than sufficient to fulfill netbook requirements with major activities surrounding the web surfing, social networking and normal office processing tasks. Besides, the major advantage is definitely on its prolonged battery life time thanks to its efficient power management IC that also eliminate the needs of active heatsink or fan for fanless applications.

However, it still lacks of flexibility in terms of software applications and operating systems unlike those X86 architecture based processors that are fully backup by various eco-partners support. Nevertheless, with another collaboration effort between ARM and Adobe to enable Flash 10 running on ARM core, it will definitely make its way to netbook market competing against Intel famous Atom processors on various market segments.

The Austin semiconductor firm further confirmed that the new i.MX515 processor will be targeted on netbook series at around $200 price point, which could again place an advantageous positioning in view of most of the current netbooks are priced between $250 to $350 range. The new netbook is expected to be run on Canonical’s Ubuntu OS (Operating System), featured with a 8.9-inches LCD display and an extremely long lasting battery life of up to eight hours without recharging needed.