Intel's upcoming Oak Trail platform may sound like a nice walking spot to get your trainers worn in, but it's actually not - ready for an early 2011 launch with mass production underway is what it is.

Oak Trails Atom Z6XX series system-on-a-chip (codenamed Lincroft) is designed for lightweight portable computing devices, like tablets. There are countless manufacturers wanting to enter the tablet market next year - with Oak Trail being a possibility in a number of them.

Lincroft incorporates an Atom processor core, an Intel GMA600 graphics core and a 32bit LPDDR1/DDR2 memory controller and video encoder/decoder. It's also paired with an SM32 IO (codenamed Whitney Point) and Intel is supposedly planning to sell both with it's Linux based MeeGo OS for only $25. Cheap, ain't it?

Of course, it sounds cheap - but the Windows version would be more expensive. But for customers familiar with Windows - they'll pay that premium. Intel is claiming Oak Trail consumes up to 50% less power on average, handles HD video also.