Speed of Atom N270 vs Atom N280/Other questions?

[markwco]

I am thinking of buying an Acer Aspire One. I had hoped the 11.6 version would offer the N280 but seems they even chose a slower chip than the N270. I still hope Acer comes out with an N280 netbook soon. I've also heard ASUS is looking at a 11.6" netbook
My questions:

Is there really much of a speed difference between the 1.6 and 1.66Ghz versions? I know there's that .06Ghz but is it that noticeable? I know there are also now chips such as the Z520, Z530, Z540, and Z550. Unfortunately I know Acer chose the Z520 for their 11.6" model. It's only 1.33Mhz though which I can't see going to but with the Z540 and Z550 being 1.866 and 2Ghz respectively they have my attention.i don't know of any netbooks yet that are using them though. What kind of devices can we expect to see them in and at what cost? I know these were meant for MID's and I dont' know much about the MID's on the market but these seem to be used in some netbooks in.

How much difference does the Front Side Bus make though? I know the N280 is 667 Mhz vs 533 for the N270. The z series from the Z520 and above seem to be all 533Mhz.

What I'm asking is does the 667Mhz FSB plus the .06Ghz increase between the N280 and N270 make a big difference and would a Z540 at 2Ghz but only 533Mhz FSB really be faster than a N280 at 1.66Ghz but 533Mhz FSB?

Are there any more Intel Atom upgrades planned such as a faster chip such as a N290 at 1.8Ghz or even a Dual Core Atom? It seems I heard earlier about a Dual Core Atom but it seems to only be the desktop version (330).

If I'm correct all Intel Atom chips are 32 bit. Are there any 64 bit versions of any 64 bit versions planned?

I've also heard about the new CULV Core 2 Processors coming out later this year and that they will be more powerful than the Atom N and Z series but yet lower power than the regular Intel laptop CPU's. Maybe these will become popular in the 11.6 to 13 inch 'netbooks' if they are called that. Is there much information on them yet such as what the prices would be, the speed, etc?

I apologize for all the questions but just want to get some ideas where all of this is going. Part is I am a heavy user of KDE and use KDE 3.5 but want to start using KDE4 soon. On a N270 netbook it seems a little slow. I know part of it comes to graphics processing though and seems that all netbooks, even N280 netbooks, use the same graphics power. Are there any updates to faster GPU's in any upcoming netbooks?

 

[Doublejr]

I doubt you would notice a difference in performance, other than in synthetic benchmarks. Although the newer chip uses a couple/few less watts then the n270 so you will get better battery life. I do think that the n280 has the graphics built in to the cpu (not 100%) for less power usage but I have no idea if it will be any better the the gma950 that most have.

I just bought a asus 1000heb (bestbuy model, basically a 1000HA with the new chicklet keyboard) and it gets over 6 hours of regular use with the 6 cell battery. It's not a rocket but it has enough juice for office apps and browsing. (using XP)

The Z series seem to cost as much as a laptop in everything I have seen. For those prices find a nice 12.1 inch lappy and call it a day.

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: markwco
What I'm asking is does the 667Mhz FSB plus the .06Ghz increase between the N280 and N270 make a big difference and would a Z540 at 2Ghz but only 533Mhz FSB really be faster than a N280 at 1.66Ghz but 533Mhz FSB?

See if you can find a review of the Asus Eee PC 1000HE (which uses the N280) that compares it to the older Eee PC 1000H (which uses the N270).

Are there any more Intel Atom upgrades planned such as a faster chip such as a N290 at 1.8Ghz or even a Dual Core Atom? It seems I heard earlier about a Dual Core Atom but it seems to only be the desktop version (330).

Since the announcement of the Z515 and Z550, I'm not aware of anything that has been explicitly described by Intel. But yes, there will certainly be more Atom products in the future.

The Atom 330 is the only dual-core Atom product that is currently available. I would expect more dual-core Atoms eventually. Intel ARK: Atom.

If I'm correct all Intel Atom chips are 32 bit. Are there any 64 bit versions of any 64 bit versions planned?

Atom 230 and 330 are 64-bit. All other current Atom products are not. I believe that Intel intends to keep things things way, ie successors to the Atom 330 will be 64-bit but lower-power parts won't be, at least for a while.

I know part of it comes to graphics processing though and seems that all netbooks, even N280 netbooks, use the same graphics power. Are there any updates to faster GPU's in any upcoming netbooks?

If NVIDIA's Ion platform gets off the ground, that will bring greatly improved graphics performance. Otherwise, Intel seems content to keep saddling Atom with lame graphics hardware.