Pankaj Kedia is the Director of the MID program at Intel. The Mobile Internet Device is based on the new Intel Atom X86 processor, which should consume less power at similar X86 performance as previous Intel Ultra Low Voltage processors. The Atom systems might be able to dissipate low enough heat to be able to run without fan. Some of the MIDs will be using Linux OSes that permits to optimize the interfaces to the lowest possible system requirements. During this interview, Pankaj Kedia explains how the Atom processor works, when it will be available, how much it will cost, what makes the difference between the regular Atom and the Atom Centrino. No talk on camera though comparing Intel’s Atom to the AMD Geode or VIA C7M’s performance, price and power consumption.
The latest Classmate PC versions released by Intel for $550 do not seem to use the Atom processor yet. So the Atom processor might not be available in cheap laptops before later this year and perhaps not in the cheapest laptops before next year. The first Atom based products though as the MIDs are supposed to be released by the second half of this year already. But some of the MID devices like the Gigabyte M528 to use Atom processors are announced to cost $900, so not yet confirmed to provide a definite lower price then ULV based products.