Atomp
Intel has made much of the fact that its Atom processor - officially
launched and shipping now to select customers - is powerful enough to
'unleash the full mobile experience' on handheld MIDs (mobile Internet
devices) and basic netbooks whilst concurrently providing sub-1W
average-power credentials.
We know that the 45nm-based Atom shares the same ISA as the Core 2
processor, meaning
that any software that runs on the latter - and that amounts to some
$100bn-worth in 2007 alone - will also run on the Atom.
Ultra-low-wattage processors need to be able to handle all elements of
what's termed the full web experience - Flash-encoded video, for
example. The trick is to do all this and still retain low, low platform
power figures that are needed for decent battery-life in MIDs and
on-the-go
netbooks.
Launching
five Atom CPUs yesterday, ranging from 800MHz
through
to 1.86GHz. Out of these, three SKUs, 1.33GHz; 1.6GHz; and 1.86GHz,
support
hyperthreading and a 533MHz FSB,. The other two, non-hyperthreaded,
operate at
800MHz and 1.1GHz and feature a 400MHz FSB. Average power for all but
the lowest-clocked
part is reckoned to be 220mW (one-fifth of a watt).
Now, Intel demonstrated the 1.6GHz model, Z530, running CINEBENCH 9.5
with and without hyper-threading enabled. The non-HT CPU returned a
benchmark score of 103, and the HT-enabled model one of 158, as shown
above. Putting
that into some kind of context, an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ benchmarks at
256, and, on the other end of the scale, an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700
at
1,327 marks, in a test which is heavily compute-intensive.
Knowing these figures and taking them with due knowledge that platforms
can, and do, make a significant difference in performance, the
higher-clocked Atoms, designed for netbooks, should provide a
reasonably smooth Internet-centric experience, along with enough
horsepower for basic day-to-day tasks with Microsoft XP or Linux
operating systems.
The MID-oriented Z500 (non-HT, 800MHz clockspeed, 400MHz FSB),
sacrifices power for battery-life, but, from what we've seen and taking
into account the supporting Poulsbo chipset, offers enough clout for
a smooth web and multimedia experience. Trouble is, Intel's $45 pricing
for the CPU and chipset will hinder the emergence of the ultra-low-cost
MID.
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