There are a number of reports and rumors flying around the Internet right now suggesting that Intel maybe working on a Dual Core Atom chip for netbooks, which may be called the Intel Atom N550.

Intel’s low power consumption Atom processors are divided into two categories, those for Nettops, and those for netbooks.

Update: The dual core Intel Atom N550 processor is now available, more news below!

While there are been dual core Atom chips before, such as the Atom 330, this has been designed for a nettop rather than a netbook.

A number of netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC 1201N makes use of this processor, but as it’s designed for a nettop, it uses more power and produces more hear than the netbook range.

Reports say that the dual core netbook processor will probably be based on the Atom D510 and will most likely be called the Intel Atom N550.

There might be some wait though, as the N470 has only just started to show up, let alone the Atom N455 and N475.

Update: The N550 looks set to be released this June, along with a host of new netbooks!

Update 2: (May ’10): The dual core Intel Atom N550 1.5GHz processor has shown up in the Asus 1015N netbook, so we should be it in a few months!

Update 3: August 23rd. Intel have today officially announced the availability of the dual core Atom N550 processor. It runs two cores at 1.5GHz, with 1MB of cache and DDR3 memory support. It is said to have “similar” battery life to the popular and common Atom N450.

Intel say the new processor provides a more responsive experience. They also say that a number of netbooks powered by the N550 are in store today, but we have yet to see any ourselves. But following this news, we’re sure we will be seeing a number announced and hopefully released in the coming few weeks.