Mini-laptop CPU showdown: Atom vs. Neo vs. Nano
For a long time, Intel's Atom CPU ruled the mini-laptop universe, powering Netbooks from Asus, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo and others. After all, who wouldn't want an inexpensive processor capable of powering an almost-pocket-sized laptop? Especially one perfectly suited for handling basic coffeeshop chores such as Web surfing, emailing or blogging? Intel AtomThe smallest processor currently made by Intel, the Atom is found in a majority of Netbook-style laptops. The most common versions are the Atom N270 (1.6GHz) and Atom N280 (1.66GHz), and popular Atom-powered systems include the Asus Eee PC 1000HE and Acer Aspire One AOD150.AMD Athlon NeoIntended as a step up from Atom-style Netbook processors, AMD's Athlon Neo will be seen in ultrathin laptops such as the new HP Pavilion dv2. That particular system has a 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU and a 12-inch display.Via NanoChipmaker Via has replaced its older low-power CPU, the C7-M, with the new Nano, specifically designed for Netbooks. The 1.3GHz Nano U2350 chip was first seen in the Samsung NC20 Netbook.So how did these CPUs fare when pitted against each other? To start with, it's important to note that these are different Netbook-style systems from different vendors, so this is not an exact comparison--but it's similar to the choices you'll face when shopping for a low-cost, low-power laptop. As one might expect, there's no clear winner. When we sampled three laptops, one with each processor, the system with the Intel Atom was fastest in our multitasking test (but none of these single-core systems were particular adept at this task). But the one with the Athlon Neo was the fastest in one of our single-application tests (in this case, our iTunes encoding test), while the Netbook with the Via Nano was fastest in another single-app test using Jalbum, a photo program we sometimes use in place of Photoshop for low-power or Linux-based systems.
While each of the proceeding benchmark tests are affected by more than just the CPU, battery life is especially hard to judge (at least our three example systems all offered six-cell batteries). While we credit Asus' excellent reputation for power management more than the CPU itself, the Intel Atom-powered Asus 1000HE ran for 381 minutes, the AMD Neo-powered HP DV2 chalked up 149 minutes, and the Via Nano-powered Samsung NC20 hit 275 minutes on our video playback battery drain test. So, what does it all mean in the end? As unsatisfying a conclusion as this may be, there is no clear-cut winner in our match-up of Netbook CPUs, although the Intel Atom is by far the most popular, and each is a big improvement over the older Intel Celeron and Via C7-M chips used in the very first generation of Netbooks. Perhaps the most telling observation is that in spending hands-on time with systems using all three processors, we didn't find any large difference in our anecdotal usage experience (although only the HP dv2, with more RAM and better graphics, dared to run Windows Vista). All were perfectly adequate at providing a good Netbook experience, which leads us to repeat our oft-used mantra that Netbook nirvana requires one's expectations to be appropriately modest. They're great for Web surfing, sending email, working on office documents, maybe some light multimedia playback, and not much else--but that's what most of us primarily use our laptops for anyway. Original article at CNET. Tags: Netbook, Laptop Computer, AMD Athlon, Hewlett-Packard Co., processor
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