Intel has updated their Atom line of budget processors with the Atom Z550. The new chip has a 2.0GHz clock frequency, a 533MHz bus, and still manages to only consume 2.4W of power.

NH says that the much wanted increase in speed will likely never make it to the netbooks, at least not any time soon. Reason being is that the price of the chip will be too high for OEMs to stil make a profit while keeping the netboot cheap.

Intel is also preparing the Atom Z515, a processor that will have a dynamic frequency between 800MHz to 1.2GHz. Intel's Burst Performance Technology will ensure that the power consumption for the chip will never exceed what is necessary and when operating at 800MHz, the Z515 will use only 1.4W.