Celeron N2840 2.16GHz Bay Trail vs. Celeron N3050 1.60GHz Braswell single-thread...

[waltchan]

I created this thread because we are having a war on the sub-$200 15.6" notebook PCs at this moment that people are buying them fast, and we may be at the point where it is now the time to BUY instead of waiting for the new Braswell processors.

2015 Celeron N2840 2.16GHz Bay Trail dual-core or 2016 Celeron N3050 1.60GHz Braswell dual-core, and which one is going to be faster on single-thread performance? If the OEM PC makers decide to get aggressive in cutting costs, we may end up with a slower Celeron N3000 rated only 1.04GHz (2.08GHz turbo) vs. N2840 at 2.16GHz (2.58GHz turbo). That's 1.12GHz loss in single-thread base speed and 500MHz loss in turbo speed.

Braswell Airmont is a 14nm die-shrink from Bay Trail 22nm Silvermont, and it looks like to me they both use the same Sivermont architechture? If true, looks like to me that Intel intends to REDUCE the single-thread performance even more in the upcoming Braswell Airmont only to save an additional 1.5W TDP, which is ridiculous.

Looking at the specs, do you think this is now the time to BUY for the last Bay Trail Silvermonts, or WAIT for the new Braswell Airmonts, in case you want one of the basic laptops? Please share your opinions and thoughts.

 

[lopri]

A sub-$200 15.6" notebook PC?

A war?

 

[jji7skyline]

I thought netbooks were killed by tablets...

 

[coercitiv]

A sub-$200 15.6" notebook PC?

A war?

You need to see it from the proper perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJLeBM6-AaM

 

[waltchan]

A sub-$200 15.6" notebook PC?

A war?

Yep, not a joke. Manufacturers are on their way pushing prices down to $150 starting, with 2GB RAM and Windows 10 with Bing, powered by a brand-new Celeron N3000 1.04GHz (2.08GHz turbo) processor, yet people still buy them fast. They were not informed that single-thread base speed is now 1.12GHz less than previous Celeron N2840. They assume the N3000 is faster than N2840 they're replacing (some people buy new cheap laptops every year).

I notice this trend for the past 2-3 years that every new budget processor and laptops that replaces it yearly is SLOWER than the previous one. It peaked the fastest and highest with Ivy Bridge Celeron 1007U, 1017U, and 1037U in 2013 before Bay Trail, and we have not looked back since. Only SLOWER... from now on.

What's going on here...

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yep, not a joke. Manufacturers are on their way pushing prices down to $150 starting, with 2GB RAM and Windows 10 with Bing, powered by a brand-new Celeron N3000 1.04GHz (2.08GHz turbo) processor, yet people still buy them fast. They were not informed that single-thread base speed is now 1.12GHz less than previous Celeron N2840. They assume the N3000 is faster than N2840 they're replacing (some people buy new cheap laptops every year).

I notice this trend for the past 2-3 years that every new budget processor and laptops that replaces it yearly is SLOWER than the previous one. It peaked the fastest and highest with Ivy Bridge Celeron 1007U, 1017U, and 1037U in 2013 before Bay Trail, and we have not looked back since. Only SLOWER... from now on.

What's going on here...

Battery life is probably way better with a Bay Trail than an Ivy Bridge...and obviously the cost to make the Bay Trail chips is lower, so Intel can sell them for more cheaply than it did the Ivy Bridge parts (lower system prices) and still make good money.

 

[R0H1T]

Battery life is probably way better with a Bay Trail than an Ivy Bridge...and obviously the cost to make the Bay Trail chips is lower, so Intel can sell them for more cheaply than it did the Ivy Bridge parts (lower system prices) and still make good money.

That's what I suspect they're doing, it's a nice way to get back some contra revenue spent elsewhere. Anyway they're basically making these for tablets but low end netbooks is a direct consequence of them not being able to crack that market.

Ideally they'd rather sell the bigger core here but since battery life, anorexic form factor (even for notebooks) & cheap is all the rage now they've had to settle with something less(er), still makes them good money I bet.

 

[Shivansps]

Braswell is coming out NOW, not in 2016, and ST perf is the same as BT, so the faster always win, Braswell bring improvements on MT mostly. And IGP.


Also, these Braswells N3000, N3050 and N3150 are just the first ones, kinda in line with what N2805, N2810 and N2910 where when they launched, they are gona step up freq later on.

 

[sm625]

Braswell brings nothing in the way of improved cpu performance, not even a token 5%. So all you need to do is a simple max clock speed comparison. But I guess it spends more time at its max turbo so you have to keep that in mind. But still unless the max turbo speeds are close, I wouldnt even consider braswell. It will cost more, and the supposedly improved IGP is still just as useless. Surface 3 cannot even handle DOTA 2 on lowest settings, and that is the top line atom sku.

 

[Shivansps]

Surface 3 does not mean much, dual BTs still break havok to quad BT on tablets, also anandtech did a review of the 2GB single channel Surface 3.

 

[waltchan]

Braswell is coming out NOW, not in 2016, and ST perf is the same as BT, so the faster always win, Braswell bring improvements on MT mostly. And IGP.


Also, these Braswells N3000, N3050 and N3150 are just the first ones, kinda in line with what N2805, N2810 and N2910 where when they launched, they are gona step up freq later on.

Yes, Braswell comes out in summer 2015, and registers as a 2016 model. It will be sold until 2017 before Goldmont comes out.

 

[waltchan]

Braswell brings nothing in the way of improved cpu performance, not even a token 5%. So all you need to do is a simple max clock speed comparison. But I guess it spends more time at its max turbo so you have to keep that in mind. But still unless the max turbo speeds are close, I wouldnt even consider braswell. It will cost more, and the supposedly improved IGP is still just as useless. Surface 3 cannot even handle DOTA 2 on lowest settings, and that is the top line atom sku.

Braswell has up to 1.12GHz lower base frequency than Bay Trail, and both using the same Silvermont architecture. Does this mean single-thread performance will be slower and noticeable? How does turbo work?

Improvements in Braswell include faster GPU by Broadwell instead of Ivy Bridge and faster memory RAM speed at 1600MHz than 1333MHz. But I'm unsure if these small upgrades will improve single-thread speed.

Braswell is designed for Windows 10 at launch when it comes out. Price will go up a little at Windows 10 launch, but after few months in 2016, price will eventually be lower than Bay trail with starting price pushing down to $150 area.

 

[Shivansps]

Considering that MT is better i guess turbo works better, but no, ST perf is the same as BT, faster clock will always win.

The faster IGP will finally be better than what is on those Ivy-U Celerons.

 

[Vesku]

I like the gpu improvements but will continue to warn people of the severe limitations and actual reduction in CPU performance on the bottom end of PCs and laptops compared to pre-BayTrail Celeron and Pentium offerings, on the few occasions it comes up.

 

[waltchan]

I like the gpu improvements but will continue to warn people of the severe limitations and actual reduction in CPU performance on the bottom end of PCs and laptops compared to pre-BayTrail Celeron and Pentium offerings, on the few occasions it comes up.

I think the reduction in CPU performance is to allow Intel to force people to buy their more-expensive Core i3 and better, but not everyone needs a Core i3. I consider myself as a loyal Celeron customer for life as it always give me the best value and performance if you can find the right model.

There's a Haswell Celeron 2957U 1.4GHz and 2981U 1.6GHz available selling for the same price with the Bay Trail together if you can find one, but it's generally difficult to locate one due to high-cost of production.

So, are you trying to tell me this is now the time for me to BUY on the Celeron N2840 instead waiting for the newer N3050? I don't know what to do now.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yes, Braswell comes out in summer 2015, and registers as a 2016 model. It will be sold until 2017 before Goldmont comes out.

Naw, expect Intel's "Back to School" refresh to include Goldmont-based Pentium/Celeron processors.

 

[Shivansps]

I think the reduction in CPU performance is to allow Intel to force people to buy their more-expensive Core i3 and better, but not everyone needs a Core i3. I consider myself as a loyal Celeron customer for life as it always give me the best value and performance if you can find the right model.

There's a Haswell Celeron 2957U 1.4GHz and 2981U 1.6GHz available selling for the same price with the Bay Trail together if you can find one, but it's generally difficult to locate one due to high-cost of production.

So, are you trying to tell me this is now the time for me to BUY on the Celeron N2840 instead waiting for the newer N3050? I don't know what to do now.

Faster Braswell are gona come out eventually, just like BT did.

 

[iSkylaker]

Sub-$200? OP can you give me names, brand and model names please. I really need an upgrade for my Atom N450 @1.6Ghz/1GB of RAM (yeah, really!!) anything at least 20% faster will be a huge win for me.

*fingers crossed it's not a Chromebook*

 

[waltchan]

Sub-$200? OP can you give me names, brand and model names please. I really need an upgrade for my Atom N450 @1.6Ghz/1GB of RAM (yeah, really!!) anything at least 20% faster will be a huge win for me.

*fingers crossed it's not a Chromebook*

Oh, there's plenty popping up all the time. If you have a Micro Center store nearby, there's an Asus with Celeron N2830 and Windows 8.1 for $179.99, without DVD drive built-in.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/438199/X551MAV-EB01-B_156_Laptop_Computer_-_Black

Select other stores if there's one near your city. If no Micro Center store nearby, try this one (a little over $200 but with free shipping is the next cheapest, and it's a smaller 14"):

http://www.frys.com/product/8369017?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Depending on where you live, not everyone has the best luck getting the lowest price (especially the ones who don't have a Micro Center store nearby).

Best Buy just had a 1-day sale on a Toshiba Celeron N2840 with DVD drive for only $199.99, two days before on Thursday (wish I did pick one up) .

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba...lack/5346014.p?id=1219649750488&skuId=5346014

 

[waltchan]

Received my two new Dell Inspiron i3043-1250BLK Celeron N2830 all-in-one 20" PCs in the mail today that I paid only $199.99 each shipped from Adorama. It's slooowww of course, but I hear I'm going to be better off than Celeron N3000 1.04GHz Dell will be replacing. They will be store in my car trunk for each car permanently only for emergency use, hopefully they can stand the heat.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Received my two new Dell Inspiron i3043-1250BLK Celeron N2830 all-in-one 20" PCs in the mail today that I paid only $199.99 each shipped from Adorama. It's slooowww of course, but I hear I'm going to be better off than Celeron N3000 1.04GHz Dell will be replacing. They will be store in my car trunk for each car permanently only for emergency use, hopefully they can stand the heat.

No offense, but that's really weird, storing desktop PCs in your "boot" for emergencies. Why not get some x86-based tablets, or a mini-PC like a Pipo X7 or something?

 

[waltchan]

No offense, but that's really weird, storing desktop PCs in your "boot" for emergencies. Why not get some x86-based tablets, or a mini-PC like a Pipo X7 or something?

This PC is the smallest-sized and thinnest size I can find that's almost just as thin as a tablet. And I have business files that only work for Windows.

It appears Intel is keeping two bottom-end Celerons, N2830 and N2840, for 2015 year. N2830 is now $10 cheaper than N2840. I get the impression that N2830 = N3000 and N2840 = N3050 combined. So the future $199.99 all-in-one Windows 10 PCs will use N3000 1.04GHz as the successor to N2830 2.16GHz, 1.12GHz loss in base speed.

 

[ninaholic37]

Faster Braswell are gona come out eventually, just like BT did.

Yeah I remember this too:

- N2805 was 1.46GHz with no turbo
- N2806 was 1.6GHz/2.0GHz turbo
- N2807 was 1.58GHz/2.16GHz turbo
- N2808 was 1.58GHz/2.25GHz turbo

Perhaps it's better to wait until N3001 and N3002 if you're going to consider 4W TDP Braswell instead of BT.

 

[iSkylaker]

Oh, there's plenty popping up all the time. If you have a Micro Center store nearby, there's an Asus with Celeron N2830 and Windows 8.1 for $179.99, without DVD drive built-in.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/438199/X551MAV-EB01-B_156_Laptop_Computer_-_Black

Select other stores if there's one near your city. If no Micro Center store nearby, try this one (a little over $200 but with free shipping is the next cheapest, and it's a smaller 14"):

http://www.frys.com/product/8369017?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Depending on where you live, not everyone has the best luck getting the lowest price (especially the ones who don't have a Micro Center store nearby).

Best Buy just had a 1-day sale on a Toshiba Celeron N2840 with DVD drive for only $199.99, two days before on Thursday (wish I did pick one up) .

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba...lack/5346014.p?id=1219649750488&skuId=5346014

Sweet man thanks for that, unfortunately I don't have Micro Center where I live but sure I'll keep an eye on those models, specially the ASUS one.

 

[TeknoBug]

Been buying and using laptops since the early 90's, about 5 years ago I saw an increase in performance per Hz in low/mid end laptops, but in the past couple years, I'm seeing it go back down while the price goes up. I think waltchan is right about encouraging to buy the more expensive i3.