Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) this week showed off its "Canoe Lake" platform, a reference design for very thin netbooks. The dual-core Atom processor is essentially a refinement of the company's Pine Trail platform. The chip maker says Canoe Lake will enable the thinnest netbooks in the world to be built, down to a "razor-thin" measuring just 14mm, which is just a tad more than half an inch. In comparison, the Dell Adamo is 16.5mm thick while Apple's MacBook Air ranges between 4mm to 19.5mm.

Intel says that the extreme dimension is possible courtesy of a new thermal design that allows Canoe Lake to run cooler. Feedback from someone who was able to use the reference system is that performance is "pretty zippy" and "responsive." Devices based on the Canoe Lake reference design should cost under $600 and be available before the holiday shopping season.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Information Week
- check out this article at Venture Beat
- check out this article at Liliputing

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