[Leaplist] Different netbooks ... CPU and GPU limitations (or not) ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

Understand I was first exposed to Atom under NDA, many years ago.
Not in my life did I ever think they would be utilized for netbooks and
PCs, but only embedded cards and set-tops.

The 2-issue, in-line architecture was never designed for Windows.
However, some heavy Linux utilization was to be expected.  I bought
a 9" Netbook for my wife with an Atom, the Acer One.  I've also tried
other units, including several older newer models of single and dual
core.


I feel for AMD because their fabs keep them behind, and they don't
have the market power to push priority at their foundries.  However,
with their GPU end, they have been able to thanx to the ATI acquisition.
Hence why they were first with 55nm and, now, 40nm.  Just wish they
had the CPU fabbing to match.

Intel still believes it can push its GPUs.  It's the worst thing about
purchasing an Intel.  It's why I only buy nVidia for Intel (as I've posted
enough about over the last decade).

However, I was pleasantly surprised with the Radeon X1270 support 
in Fedora 12 out-of-the-box -- full 2D EXA acceleration with the radeonhd
driver on my default.  I'm going to play with enabling XVideo and DRM/DRI,
GLX and other featuers tonight -- Compiz support in 1.3.0 is supposed to
be solid, and even several titles run.

On the Windows side, it's no comparison with even latest Intel X-series GPUs.
Old AMD/ATI slaughters them.  My 1.2GHz Athlon 64 netbook is CPU-limited.


----- Original Message ----
From: Kevin Korb <kmk at sanitarium.net>

I have 2 Atom based systems.  They have their uses but you are correct
about them being weak.

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