My Netbook/Ultralight Thoughts & Design
So these 'netbooks' as the term has been coined, are taking off. They've caught my eye since I first heard about them, but they just haven't quite hit the right mesh of parts and performance for me to get really revved up about them.
So far it's been an Intel and Via only game, AMD hadn't come out with their own offering until CES 2009. Via's CPUs have always been for the "I don't need processing power, I just need LOW power" market. Some of their more recent offerings have some more OOOMF though. Intel's Atom design just screams 'intentionally gimped so as not to compete with REAL hardware.' The power envelope for the processor is great, you can't really beat a sub-4W CPU. But then Intel picked their lowest of the low, the GMA950 chipset. Not their most efficient chipset, this one gobbles up power, 22W of it.
Going with the best-performing CPU in the lineup, the newly minted Atom 330, the first Dual-Core Atom (Funny, I thought Atoms were single) comes in at a TDP of 33.5W per Intel's spec sheet. http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=35641
Until NVidia's Ion system comes out, we're stuck with the GMA950 chipset and graphics; both of which are subpar. Nvidia's Ion switches the chipset and drops in a not-so-unrespectable GeForce 9400M, which is capable of some light graphics work, and can even do it on-chip. This frees up the sorely overworked Atom a little.
AMD's decided they're going to enter the arena, but they're not going after the Netbook Market, which they're referring to as the 'mininotebook' which is perhaps a more comparison-friendly term. AMD is claiming the mininotebooks are underpowered for most anything, and sacrifice much just to sell, thus giving the manufacturers not much of a gain, other than marketshare. When everyone is selling you razorblades for a buck, and they make a penny, it's not really worth their time. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~129565,00.html
So AMD has come out with a single-core Athlon, dubbed the "Athlon Neo" aimed at the 'Ultrathin Notebook' market. Coming in at 1.6GHz, with a 512KB L2 Cache, it looks spec wise very similar to an Atom. It arrives with a higher power envelope, at 15W, but is 64-bit capable out of the starting gate. (Intel's early Atoms were not 64-bit capable, the new ones entering the market are) AMD is pairing it with either a Radeon x1250 for low-power systems (part of the well-performing & low-power, but expired 690G chipset) or a Radeon HD3410 for machines in need of a little more performance (The HD3200 is the basis of the 780G chipset, and is from my understanding, an underclocked HD3450, which per AMD's nomenclanture would simply be a higher clocked version of the HD3410)
From my testing, a single HD3200 or HD3450 was capable of running Team Fortress 2, but Left4Dead ran about as well as my Radeon 9600 Mobile in my aging eMachines M6805 laptop. Hybrid-Crossfired, they handled TF2 well, but still failed at giving L4D any playable experience. So AMD's got a powerful little performer in their Athlon Neo framework. I'd still like to see a slightly lower per-core power draw and drop in a second core.
Enough of my technical ramblings...time for my 'ideal system.'
My 'ideal Netbook/Ultrathin Notebook' would consist of:
-12" 1280x800 pixel glossy glare-resistant screen
-1.3 Megapixel (1280x1024) Webcam w/built-in mic
-2GHz dual-core CPU; on par with a mid-range CPU
-2GB of DDR2 800, maybe expandable to 4GB
-128GB 1.8" SATA SSD, removable/upgradable
-128MB low-power GPU; capable of light gaming/graphics work (HD34x0/9400M level of performance as a MINIMUM)
-Normal layout keyboard (don't cut keys, no funny layouts)
-"Traditional" touchpad (buttons on the bottom, so can be operated by one hand easily) & "TrackPoint" style pointing device (option for one, the other, or both; I'd take both)
-Bluetooth 2.0EDR
-Multi-function card reader
-3 USB2.0 ports
-Audio output/input 3.5mm jacks
-DisplayPort output (DVI and HDMI can be encapsulated within a DisplayPort connection; as Apple has done)
-802.11 a/b/g/n + WIMAX wireless
-3G+ card capability (allow for ALL vendors; not just one. We pick based on area, price, speed, and download caps, and WILL travel)
-10/1000/1000 Ethernet jack
-6-cell battery minimum; "tall" 9-cell available; would 'lift' back end of PC (see Docking Bay)
-Optional Thinkpad X-series-style docking bay
--CD/DVD Burner
--Extra battery capacity (or a back-area cutout for a higher capacity model to fit the base laptop)
--"-Mini Firewire 800 port (I wouldn't use it; but there's enough digital equipment out there on it to make it worthwhile)
-Dialup modem
-eSATA port
-Performance" (Midrange; HD46xx+) GPU (Switchable on-the-fly with onboard graphics; also upgradable via MiniPCI-style chip replacement)
--Perhaps move the last 3 ports (mini Firewire 800, dialup modem, eSATA) to this bay
--1-3 USB2 ports
--ExpressCard 34/54 slot
-Easy-to-clean case/ventilation ducts (as this little beast is going to get used, and abused, and dragged everywhere; either laid out in such a fashion I can hit it with a can of compressed air and blow it out, or remove a panel to blast away at buildups)
-Solid physical build; doesn't quite have to be Thinkpad or Toughbook quality, but I want a solid laptop that isn't going to break from normal wear-and-tear or short drops. Replacable shell, that under enough stress cracks/breaks and absorbs the fall?
-Design this system, then keep up with the same form-factor; make docking bays interchangable for a model or two, so someone can 'trade up' their docks for better GPUs (if not replacable themselves) until the base system isn't powerful enough anymore. I would stick with this system for quite a while, probably go through a few step-ups over the years with it.
-Keep it small, lightweight, durable, cool, quiet, and don't charge a firstborn child for the machine, and I could easily recommend this system to almost everyone.
I would be willing to pay about $750 for the base system, and another $200-400 for the docking bay, depending on GPU performance, and I could EASILY see a laptop like this coming out in the next year. We have the technology; and it would be a model you can design different docking bays for different feature sets. Sell the base model, and you have the 'portable' 'performance' and 'storage' docking bay variants, perhaps.
So far it's been an Intel and Via only game, AMD hadn't come out with their own offering until CES 2009. Via's CPUs have always been for the "I don't need processing power, I just need LOW power" market. Some of their more recent offerings have some more OOOMF though. Intel's Atom design just screams 'intentionally gimped so as not to compete with REAL hardware.' The power envelope for the processor is great, you can't really beat a sub-4W CPU. But then Intel picked their lowest of the low, the GMA950 chipset. Not their most efficient chipset, this one gobbles up power, 22W of it.
Going with the best-performing CPU in the lineup, the newly minted Atom 330, the first Dual-Core Atom (Funny, I thought Atoms were single) comes in at a TDP of 33.5W per Intel's spec sheet. http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=35641
Until NVidia's Ion system comes out, we're stuck with the GMA950 chipset and graphics; both of which are subpar. Nvidia's Ion switches the chipset and drops in a not-so-unrespectable GeForce 9400M, which is capable of some light graphics work, and can even do it on-chip. This frees up the sorely overworked Atom a little.
AMD's decided they're going to enter the arena, but they're not going after the Netbook Market, which they're referring to as the 'mininotebook' which is perhaps a more comparison-friendly term. AMD is claiming the mininotebooks are underpowered for most anything, and sacrifice much just to sell, thus giving the manufacturers not much of a gain, other than marketshare. When everyone is selling you razorblades for a buck, and they make a penny, it's not really worth their time. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~129565,00.html
So AMD has come out with a single-core Athlon, dubbed the "Athlon Neo" aimed at the 'Ultrathin Notebook' market. Coming in at 1.6GHz, with a 512KB L2 Cache, it looks spec wise very similar to an Atom. It arrives with a higher power envelope, at 15W, but is 64-bit capable out of the starting gate. (Intel's early Atoms were not 64-bit capable, the new ones entering the market are) AMD is pairing it with either a Radeon x1250 for low-power systems (part of the well-performing & low-power, but expired 690G chipset) or a Radeon HD3410 for machines in need of a little more performance (The HD3200 is the basis of the 780G chipset, and is from my understanding, an underclocked HD3450, which per AMD's nomenclanture would simply be a higher clocked version of the HD3410)
From my testing, a single HD3200 or HD3450 was capable of running Team Fortress 2, but Left4Dead ran about as well as my Radeon 9600 Mobile in my aging eMachines M6805 laptop. Hybrid-Crossfired, they handled TF2 well, but still failed at giving L4D any playable experience. So AMD's got a powerful little performer in their Athlon Neo framework. I'd still like to see a slightly lower per-core power draw and drop in a second core.
Enough of my technical ramblings...time for my 'ideal system.'
My 'ideal Netbook/Ultrathin Notebook' would consist of:
-12" 1280x800 pixel glossy glare-resistant screen
-1.3 Megapixel (1280x1024) Webcam w/built-in mic
-2GHz dual-core CPU; on par with a mid-range CPU
-2GB of DDR2 800, maybe expandable to 4GB
-128GB 1.8" SATA SSD, removable/upgradable
-128MB low-power GPU; capable of light gaming/graphics work (HD34x0/9400M level of performance as a MINIMUM)
-Normal layout keyboard (don't cut keys, no funny layouts)
-"Traditional" touchpad (buttons on the bottom, so can be operated by one hand easily) & "TrackPoint" style pointing device (option for one, the other, or both; I'd take both)
-Bluetooth 2.0EDR
-Multi-function card reader
-3 USB2.0 ports
-Audio output/input 3.5mm jacks
-DisplayPort output (DVI and HDMI can be encapsulated within a DisplayPort connection; as Apple has done)
-802.11 a/b/g/n + WIMAX wireless
-3G+ card capability (allow for ALL vendors; not just one. We pick based on area, price, speed, and download caps, and WILL travel)
-10/1000/1000 Ethernet jack
-6-cell battery minimum; "tall" 9-cell available; would 'lift' back end of PC (see Docking Bay)
-Optional Thinkpad X-series-style docking bay
--CD/DVD Burner
--Extra battery capacity (or a back-area cutout for a higher capacity model to fit the base laptop)
--"-Mini Firewire 800 port (I wouldn't use it; but there's enough digital equipment out there on it to make it worthwhile)
-Dialup modem
-eSATA port
-Performance" (Midrange; HD46xx+) GPU (Switchable on-the-fly with onboard graphics; also upgradable via MiniPCI-style chip replacement)
--Perhaps move the last 3 ports (mini Firewire 800, dialup modem, eSATA) to this bay
--1-3 USB2 ports
--ExpressCard 34/54 slot
-Easy-to-clean case/ventilation ducts (as this little beast is going to get used, and abused, and dragged everywhere; either laid out in such a fashion I can hit it with a can of compressed air and blow it out, or remove a panel to blast away at buildups)
-Solid physical build; doesn't quite have to be Thinkpad or Toughbook quality, but I want a solid laptop that isn't going to break from normal wear-and-tear or short drops. Replacable shell, that under enough stress cracks/breaks and absorbs the fall?
-Design this system, then keep up with the same form-factor; make docking bays interchangable for a model or two, so someone can 'trade up' their docks for better GPUs (if not replacable themselves) until the base system isn't powerful enough anymore. I would stick with this system for quite a while, probably go through a few step-ups over the years with it.
-Keep it small, lightweight, durable, cool, quiet, and don't charge a firstborn child for the machine, and I could easily recommend this system to almost everyone.
I would be willing to pay about $750 for the base system, and another $200-400 for the docking bay, depending on GPU performance, and I could EASILY see a laptop like this coming out in the next year. We have the technology; and it would be a model you can design different docking bays for different feature sets. Sell the base model, and you have the 'portable' 'performance' and 'storage' docking bay variants, perhaps.