The Atom love-in / confession thread. Do you like Atom-based hardware?

[VirtualLarry]

This is the thread to confess:
1) Whether you've ever purchased Atom-based hardware, and
2) Whether you liked the product.

I'll admit, I've purchased a number of Z3735F/G tablets (some Winbook TW700, one HP Stream 7, both with Win 8.1 w/Bing). I like 'em! Very convenient for (light, due to only 1GB RAM) web browsing, and running Skype in the background (it's a freaking x86/x64 quad-core! in a $60 tablet!)

I've also purchased some N2830 Dell 15.6" laptops, and some N2830 Asus laptops. I'm using one of the Dell laptops right now. Upgradeable RAM and standard 2.5" HDD (installed a Samsung 850 EVO 120GB) makes the Dells very versatile. Pretty happy with them.

Also purchased a Lenovo IdeaPad 100S 11.6" Win10 laptop. (Aka "cloudbook"). I like that a lot too. VERY lightweight, nearly 9-10 hours battery life web browsing. Only a 32-bit UEFI / OS, but very devoid of bloatware. 2GB RAM and 32GB eMMC, means that's it's not quite as limited for browsing as the tablets, even though it too has a Z3735F at its heart.

So yeah, I like (Bay Trail) Atoms.

Edit: Though, I will say that although I like my (Bay Trail) Atom-based machines, my Ivy Bridge 1007U-based laptops are definitely a bit snappier. Even if they require a six-cell extra-large battery to get the same 8 hour battery life.

 

[lehtv]

My mom still uses an Atom-based EeePC, works fine for her needs which include email, printing, internet, word documents. For stuff like that, Atom is absolutely fine. I never liked the EeePC myself - but that was mainly due to its small screen and tiny keyboard. The performance was always decent enough, and would've been even better with an SSD as boot drive.

 

[NTMBK]

Used to have a Bobcat netbook. Loved the size, portability and robustness. Hated the way it ground to a halt when Windows Update started.

A modern update with Cherry Trail/Beema would be awesome. I'm getting sick of my top heavy 2-in-1 falling over.

 

[Exophase]

I had an N270 EeePC netbook years ago and it was pretty terrible for just about anything. I got one of those very cheap BayTrail tablets to replace my mom's desktop and the performance is fine, but there have been some headaches with keeping it charged and keeping the HDMI out working. I think those may not have been the tablet's fault, though.

There's no question that the combination of very cheap BayTrail parts, free Windows and otherwise very cheap Chinese manufacturing and parts has made for some really good values. Much better than the netbook era, which seemed very cheap at the time (where the low price was an accepted compromise vs the low performance)

 

[Phynaz]

No.

 

[partol]

Back in 2009, I bought a netbook with a single core atom cpu. one of the first atom cpu models. I was in awe at the low power consumption. This netbook at full load would consume less power than many desktops at idle. Even though it was much weaker than a desktop cpu, I did crazy things such as encode video on it. The cpu was so weak that I had to use google chrome for web browsing. At that time, most/all other browers were too demanding on a single core atom (with hyperthreading). Some/Many people dislike the atom, but I think they are wonderful. I like the concept of a tiny, minimalistic cpu which is cheap, energy efficient, and gets the x86/x64 job done. nothing fancy. bare bones. that's my kind of engineering :thumbsup:

In general, I like anything which is cheap and energy efficient such as athlons and Celerons and pentiums.

 

[reb0rn]

Its slow, if it was/will be in par with core2duo it would be quite OK

 

[Shivansps]

Z3735D even at 1.83Ghz is half the IPC of a Pentium 2140, and it has the exact same MT perf.

So thats not really a lot, but i do like my Z3735D tablet, but im starting to think i only like it because i have no better option, im not going to pay +$300 for a tablet, or even +$200, thank you.

Now that Atom has been cancelled ill probably get a Chuwi Hi8 Pro before the prices increase.

 

[DeathReborn]

I bought 2 Z3735F 10" Tablets (2GB/32GB) for use in the car as rear seat entertainment, worked a treat so my sister bought some to keep her kids quiet.

I personally find them very slow and wouldn't go for anything slower than a Core-M tablet for my own uses.

 

[frozentundra123456]

For less than a hundred bucks, I have had two of the atom tablets(one failed due to the mini usb charger no longer working). For the price they are fine. Both have only 1gb of ram, and I think that is probably a bigger handicap that the cpu. Even at idle, they are using like 50% ram.

Like I posted earlier, too bad there is such a gap between the atom tablets and coreM. I would not consider anything over a hundred dollars with atom, and the core M tablets are too expensive. Atom in anything bigger than a tablet is an abomination though.

 

[escrow4]

Braswell laptop here (N3050), sold my i3 laptop. Purely for ebooks. Was considering a Cherry Trail stick for a HTPC but buying a Kodi approved android box instead (WeTek core) not some random ebay special with no support. Had a Bay Trail tablet and it was trash, I can't believe someone actually bought it. Honestly Atom mobile compared to ARM is meh to say the least. No wonder Intel is giving up.

 

[maddogmcgee]

1000he FTW

With the larger battery that thing ran for like 15 hours. Was amazing for watching movies and playing old school games while travelling around India (sitting on plains, trains etc). Eventually the novelty wore off though.

 

[ed21x]

have one of those 8 inch winbook tablets 2gb/32gb baytrail, and a zenfone 2, so I guess you can call me a fan. The tablet is limited to browsing and videos and is completely adequate for that.

the zenfone 2 4gb/64gb is the best smartphone out there. I can feel an obvious speed difference between how effortlessly this phone handles everything you throw at it, and the much slower galaxy 6 and htc one m8. imho, the cpu is overkill on a phone, and that is what makes it so good.

 

[tential]

Its slow, if it was/will be in par with core2duo it would be quite OK

This is honestly the most pathetic part about atom that makes me hate it.

But I use it for server pcs
And they work fine but I wish it was definitely faster than c2d so I could get rid of those machines

 

[AnitaPeterson]

LOL!
I'm reading this thread - and responding - on an Acer W4, running Intel Atom Quad-Core Z3740.
Pretty good for a reader, media player and emergency x86 computer

 

[jhu]

Have an ASUS X205TA. It's a pretty decent, silent machine with insane battery life. It's pretty nice for what it is.

 

[VirtualLarry]

LOL!
I'm reading this thread - and responding - on an Acer W4, running Intel Atom Quad-Core Z3740.
Pretty good for a reader, media player and emergency x86 computer

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Iconia-W4-820-2466-8-Inch-Windows/dp/B00G1YJ5BE

This one? Wow, expensive. $300 USD for an Atom tablet?

http://www.cnet.com/products/acer-iconia-w4/

Edit: Guess that was the going rate for the higher-end specs that tablet boasts. I was spoiled by my $60 loss-leader / contra-revenue Winbooks.

 

[waffleironhead]

My surface 3 has been an unreliable POS, but the X7-Z8700 in it was fast enough for my uses.

 

[pcslookout]

My surface 3 has been an unreliable POS, but the X7-Z8700 in it was fast enough for my uses.

That is why I returned mine!

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

I had a Dell Mini 10 once, the one with the Z500-something and the 1366x768 screen. I won't lie, it was dog-slow, but tolerable in Linux.

 

[bhtooefr]

I bought my WinBook TW700 with two things in mind. The first thing was simply to see how awful a $60 brand new computer would be, while also playing with Windows 8.1 on a tablet. The second thing was to use it for vehicle diagnostics, it being one of the few cheap tablets with a full-size USB port, so I wouldn't be wasting my $60 if it sucked. (And, I mean, a year of Office 365 free with it, which is $70 I believe. Never mind that I can get Office HUP for $10...)

I was blown away by how surprisingly usable it was despite its limitations. And, with Windows 10 (especially 1511, with memory compression), it runs far better than it did with 8.1 - it's deep into usable territory. I don't use it that much, but if I'm traveling, I'll often leave my MacBook Pro Retina at home, and just take the tablet and a Bluetooth keyboard.

However, ultimately, contra-revenue isn't sustainable.

It'll be interesting to see whether Intel can get TDPs down on Apollo Lake to the point that Broxton-T's demise won't be missed. Unfortunately, it looks like Intel doesn't really care about form factors smaller than 11.6".

 

[Zodiark1593]

I've never actually used anything Atom before, however, I'd waged with some SSDs, they'd make perfectly fine and snappy office machines.

https://youtu.be/R20RLQMpTj4

Long Live the Intel Atom!!!

 

[monstercameron]

I loved my dell venue 8 with baytrail atom. Best tablet I've owned. Atom is godd in enabling those experiences but not much else.

 

[podspi]

I've owned 3 atom based machines, all still in service!

The first is an HP Mini with the terrible N270... It has been repurposed for some networking work (don't ask)

Second is a Samsung ATIV 500t with the Z2760, also pretty terrible but actually been getting better with win 10

And finally the machine I'm writing this on, a Chuwi Hi8. Baytrail really isn't that bad... Shame Intel insists on stalling out on mobile...

Sent from my CW-Hi8-super using Tapatalk

 

[Raduque]

I like them. They offer "Good enough" performance for email/fb/youtube/browsing, heck on the higher end ones (X7-8700) even Lightroom is pretty responsive.

I've also had the Venue 8 Pro which I loved but was too small, and a $140 Windows 10 Atom tablet w/detachable keyboard which I liked but ended up returning because the microSD slot didn't work.