According to details on Digitimes, the upcoming Atom N280 and the GN40 chipset for Netbooks are expected to be a lot more expensive than the current N270 processor with the 945GSE chipset. Although we'd expect much better performance from the new chipset, the CPU is unlikely to add that much extra performance for the money.

The price difference is said to be anything between US$14 and $19, possibly because Intel gives different pricing to its various partners. For the extra money the Atom N280 doesn't seem to have much on offer compared to the N270, as according to Digitimes, it's expected to be clocked at 1.66GHz, a mere 60MHz faster than the N270. Some reports have suggested that the N280 will be clocked at 1.86GHz, but in this case, we think that Digitimes is closer to the mark.

The GN40 chipset is still something of a mystery, as all we know so far is that it'll support the faster 667MHz bus speed of the N280. We still believe the GN40 is a single package chipset solution, as this makes sense for the target market of this chipset and it will also reduce manufacturing cost for Intel.

The new CPU and chipset will most likely be detailed during IDF Shanghai and we'd dare to guess that the platform will launch at Computex in early June.

You can find more details here