Netbooks - Atom CPU power?

[Jonny]

Hi All,

I'm thinking of getting a netbook, for using while travelling - mainly for films and backing up pictures to, along with a bit of email.

I'm looking at the Samsung N140, which has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU (single core, same as most of the netbooks) and a whopping 11 hours battery...

Has anyone used an atom powered notebook to tell me how well they work? I realise it's not going to be as quick as a full sized laptop, but are they so slow I'm going to want to throw it out of the window in frustration?

Cheers

Jon

[fredthen00b]

I have an Eee PC, which uses the Atom.

It is quite quick, and it is helped by the fact the drive is solid state instead of traditional spinning disk.

For the purposes you list, I think you will find it is more than sufficient.
Just dont try encoding long High Def films for streaming to a PS3 or anything.


And if you can, get one with linux instead of Windows. It will save you a ton or so, and for the purposes you list you wont have to learn anything extra to use linux anyway.

[Mr G]

I suppose it depends what you'll be using it for.

Try and get one with a decent video card. But even then you'll struggle with websites that use Flash as you can't rely on any hardware accelaration. HD movies are also a no no unless you get one with a decent video chipset like the Nvidia Ion.

I have a dual core atom (330) and HD movies are out of the question. The shitty Intel GMA chipset doesn't help though... but then again my system isn't for that.

For all other everyday duties an atom performs well.

[Jonny]

Cheers

I'd go for a non SSD one, as I'd need the storage. As for windows vs. linux - I'd probably be turning it into a hackintosh long term, so it's not really that much of an issue. I've got a technet subscription, so would probably put windows 7 on it short term. Most of the linux based one seem to be the SSD models where space is a premium - I like the idea of the Samsung due to the large storage and the battery life

Will the atom play a 720p .mkv file back OK? Most reports seem to suggest it will cope with that

[Nicely]

The are numerous Gadget Show reviews you may want to read

http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/computing

[Mr G]

Will the atom play a 720p .mkv file back OK? Most reports seem to suggest it will cope with that

As I said, it depends entirely on the video chipset. And anyway, playing a 720p file on such a small screen is crackers anyway!!

But no, in my opinion a single core atom won't play a 720 rip as my dual core won't. I also have a similar graphics card.

[FIGJAM]

I like the one I got for my boss, the downside is the can only take 2Gig ram. Its much faster with 2gig than it was with 1.

They are much better than the intle based ones which basically dont work

[Liam]

An Atom netbook will not play a HD film, they also take their time to open big apps like Office and the like.
If you wanting a netbook with capability of HD playback your going to need a Core 2 Duo netbook with a half decent GFX Chipset. Sony make these but you'll need to pay about £1500 for one.

[Mr G]

what about one of these? Should take care of your HD needs even if it is on a teeny tiny screen!

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/2709...ini-311-photos

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...1002_USEN#N353

[Jonny]

As I said, it depends entirely on the video chipset. And anyway, playing a 720p file on such a small screen is crackers anyway!!

But no, in my opinion a single core atom won't play a 720 rip as my dual core won't. I also have a similar graphics card.

D'oh. That sucks I prob won't bother then - if it means it can't play stuff that I play on my home HTPC, it becomes too much bother transcoding (not that fussed about the resolution, just the playback of content I already have).

All of the Ion based systems seem to be around 11-12" - in which case I could just get a working battery and a bigger HDD for my macbook and take that along instead...