This is temporary, but not THAT temporary

This is temporary, but not THAT temporary

Posted Jun 6, 2008 11:33 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Acer likes Linux for laptops (c|net) by drag
Parent article: Acer likes Linux for laptops (c|net)

If you look at the specs for the next generation of 'netbook' machines your looking at 1.6+ghz Atom processors running with 20-30 gig drives and 1-2 gigs of RAM.

Yup. But you again confusing gigahertz and speed. 1.6GHz Atom has speed like Sempron @800MHz, not like Core Duo @1.6GHz.

These things are specifically designed to meet the requirements to run Vista well.

Nope. There are no way to create 10-15W package which can run Vista well. They CAN start Vista and probably even with advanced features, but "run well" is not in the cards. That's why even new generation will use dated Windows XP, not Windows Vista.

Companies like Acer, Asus, and Dell are playing it very carefully, releasing these low-end systems to run Linux, but they are not going to risk alienating their customers if their customers end up demanding Windows.

Yes - and this is REAL opportunity. Windows XP was never designed for this type of computers and Windows Vista is out of the question. Today's Linuxes looks truly great in comparison. Yes, sooner or later this opportunity will expire (when processors 2-3 times faster will use the same power as Atom today), but I think this window will be open for 2-3 years. We'll see if Linux will be able to take hold at this time...

By this time next year every single PC sold on the market anywhere will be able to run Vista very well.

Not tiny things like eeePC and clones. Big ones - yes, Atom-based ones - no.

You can thank Atom for that.

Sorry, but no. Current generation of Atom is more then fast enough for XP, but not enough to run Vista comfortably. Enough to run but not pretty and slow.

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It remains to be seen if MS can pull it off but the upcoming Windows 7 is supposed to be more
modular and potentially efficient than Vista.  If so, MS can do a lightweight spin for these
smaller devices which would get them a modern OS that can fit these devices well and not run
treacle slow.

Another thing to consider is that the current trend of slimming down of laptops, both in size
and in price, may and likely will continue.

In that case the importance of the difference in OS performance will continue to not just
exist but increase. If new processors can increase performance without increasing power
consumption, others may lower power consumption even further without loosing performance,
further lowering the costs.

As for Windows 7, if history is of any indication, the final product probably won't be nearly
as great as the initial hype we are hearing these days.

> Yup. But you again confusing gigahertz and speed. 1.6GHz Atom has speed like Sempron
@800MHz, not like Core Duo @1.6GHz.

I didn't get confused at all about it. I know exactly what a Atom processor is. With Vista
Home Basic I think it's more of a issue with disk speed and memory requirements, not CPU
requirements so much. Atom just takes the level of performance that exists with ULV and LV
cpus currently and takes down closer to ARM-land.

I could be wrong. I haven't used Vista much myself, beyond installing it in a VM (which worked
fine, except that is used all my memory) I know it's a pig, but people (believe it or not) are
running it on the EEE. That's a Celeron-M ULV running at 630mhz. The Atoms are more capable
then that by a good amount. 


You can see a preview of Vista running on a Atom system here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/19/video-willcoms-d4-vist...

It's a bit of a dog, but it's nothing that can't be overcome. Engineering pre-release and all
that. And that's _now_ on a MID device, even low-end 'netbook's are going to be a bit faster.
My prediction is with new units being manufactured 12 months from now.