Intel May Allow More Memory on Netbooks

Good news, maybe, sort of: Fudzilla is reporting that Intel will allow netbook manufacturers who use an upcoming version of its low-end Atom CPU to sell machines with 2GB of RAM rather than today's artificial maximum of 1GB. That would allow for nicer, better-performing netbooks that don't cost a whole lot more. Of course, it also begs the question: Why is Intel involved in deciding how much RAM a netbook can have in the first place? It's a little as if the company that manufactured my home's furnace wanted to be involved in deciding the capacity of my washing machine.

The PC industry-even the parts of it who are selling tons of netbooks-have an amazing track record of disparaging the darn things and explaining why consumers don't really want them. But some of the limitations of netbooks are manufactured: Both Intel and Microsoft impose restrictions on PC manufacturers that ensure that netbooks are less appealing than they might otherwise be, and therefore less imposing competition for more traditional, full-featured, profitable notebooks-ones that typically contain costlier Intel chips and run higher-priced versions of Windows.

Almost everyone in the computer industry would rather that consumers reject netbooks and buy somewhat more expensive, powerful thin-and-light notebooks with ultra-low voltage processors. And in many cases, those machines make a lot of sense. But wouldn't it be nice if said consumers could choose between the best possible netbook and the best possible thin-and-light?