Zacate laptops, worth it?

[yottabit]

Core 2 duo is 2 generations behind now. If the prices for those laptops aren't dropping then why even bother with them? Core-i series are better and should be just as cost effective. Plus SB mobile processors are going to be released very soon.

We all know C2D processors are faster than Zacate-based ones, but Zacate is targeted at the Atom.

Who cares if it's two generations old? What matters is the performance of the total package. I'm not sure if the OP is more interested in raw performance or battery life and mobility. Zacate may be targeted at atom but the OP never mentioned wanting a netbook specifically, just a laptop for $500. $500 can get you a lot farther if you are willing to sacrifice some battery life and use slightly older technology.

Here are a Core i3 notebook and a Athlon II w/ Radeon 4250 Notebook for under 500:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...666&CatId=4935
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...819&CatId=4935

I think for a thin notebook / netbook Zacate is the best option right now. It should beat Atom handily in most applications and there's a huge price jump to the ULV intel CPU's that could compete on an equal basis. But if you are looking for the most performance $450-500 can buy you there are definitely better options. I'm certain there are Core 2 notebooks with discrete graphics floating around for that price point

 

[beginner99]

Guys just to remind you the testes APU is the fastest one meant for nettop/HTPC. The ones in netbooks are the 9W parts which are slower (CPU and GPU).
So forget gaming anything newer than like 5 years probably even more.
It would also be interesting to compare that to an Atom which is the same one as tested also in netbooks.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah I'm really interested to see the performance and battery life of the 9W parts. I'm not so much interested in the $400-500 price point (which is what E-240 and E-350 seem to be aimed at). I'd like to see how the entry level C-30 and C-50 parts in $300 netbooks stack up.

 

[beginner99]

Yeah I'm really interested to see the performance and battery life of the 9W parts. I'm not so much interested in the $400-500 price point (which is what E-240 and E-350 seem to be aimed at). I'd like to see how the entry level C-30 and C-50 parts in $300 netbooks stack up.

As mentioned earlier there is C-50 available here for about 550$. Since US is usually cheaper i would say around 450$ in US but pure guess.
Only 1 Gb RAM...Not that good value IMHO.

 

[frostedflakes]

Wherever you live, sounds like you're getting gouged. Looks like the Acer Aspice One 522 will be available in the US for about $330. AMD C-50, WXGA screen (this is nice, most 10.1" netbooks have those low res 1024x600 screens), etc. If CPU performance of the C-50 is comparable with Atom CPUs, I might pick one of these up.

 

[Obsoleet]

Personally I wouldnt consider the older Intel stuff, esp considering its big bulky, gets hot, louder.. not really much faster if at all in the GPU portion. Just not my cup of tea. I'd like a lightweight small laptop that can do what I need it to do, Zacate does everything I need or actually, even WANTED.. not just need.

I'm guessing sometime there will be cheaper basic SB laptops out there that will offer a good value near $500, no extra AMD or Nvidia crap installed, just the good, pure Intel engineering. For the record I feel the same about AMD, let them design the whole package, like Zacate, it's better that way IMO for overall design cohesion/battery life. No reason on a driveless laptop to not offer USB 3.0 though. Maybe on something as slow as Atom it wouldn't matter, but Zacate seems to be a good balance of CPU/GPU resources, and could take advantage of USB3 devices (external bluray or storage).

 

[Tom]

Alienware C2D m11x with switchable discrete graphics. Plays any game, gets 6+ hours battery life in low power mode, weighs 4.4 lbs.

Costs about $550.

 

[sawtx]

As mentioned earlier there is C-50 available here for about 550$. Since US is usually cheaper i would say around 450$ in US but pure guess.
Only 1 Gb RAM...Not that good value IMHO.

For $450 you can get a 11.6" E-350 netbook with 3GB of RAM and a 320 GB 7200 rpm HDD.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...ni/dm1z_series

 

[Obsoleet]

i think im also going to hold out for a usb 3.0 version, but again i really dont think we will have to wait long.

I read an article posted January 5th where an AMD rep was quoted as saying all the Zacate products should be available in the next 6 weeks. So by mid February we might have the MSI U270 available, and possibly a Dell model. There's a Sony and a Lenovo on the way, but neither with USB 3.0. So far it looks like MSI for USB3 unless Dell does it too. I have some trips planned and would like to take a laptop with me, but there's no way I'm buying a laptop without USB 3.0 already having a USB3 external HDD here.