The Netbook Thread

[Kemper_Boyd]

If it is twice as fast as the C7 at 7W (a ULV 3.5W part is rumoured)
then it will be less efficient than Silverthorne. For UMPC/MID designs
the only things that would make Isaiah interesting is a very low price,
but it will be hard to beat Intel's Silverthorne which is a truly tiny x86
chip; or a superior chipset, Poulsbo being built on an ancient 130 nm
process creates some opportunity if Via has suitable parts ready.

For higher-end parts Via say that Isaiah has a 20W TDP at 2.0 GHz,
but that's a single core chip. Intel are close to releasing dual cores at
1.4 GHz for 10W, and 1.86 GHz for 17W. Even Penryn's mainstream
35W TDP covers such a wide range that at a similar clock Via won't
have much of a power advantage and with half the cores not a hope
in hell of competing in performance terms.

So Via have their own 'NGMA' two years after Intel and Intel have
moved on to 45nm production on top of that.

[Firefox]

Yes, I was just pointing out that HP could immediately fix most of the shortcomings of their new mini notebook by loading Isaiahs into the pick 'n' place machines on their production line instead of C7s.

I must admit that I'm somewhat swayed by what I've heard about Atom - my EeePc is pretty much fast enough as it is, so a Pentium-M equivalent that runs cooler, gets rid of the fan and extends the runtime is sounding pretty good.

Ah well, I won't be replacing my EeePc for a while yet, so I'll sit back and wait for some benchmarks to appear.

[Kemper_Boyd]

Isaiah would have been quite interesting a year ago. Now not so much.

I forget a couple more. Intel have a 1.2 GHz 5.5W ULV single core Penryn,
and a 10W 1.2 GHz single core Penryn Celeron. There are many many
new lower power chips coming out RSN. It should mean that low-power
desktops, servers, NAS boxes and ultra-mobile systems all get a lot better,
and about time too.

[Firefox]

Half-hour long video review of the top-end Vista model of the HP Mini-Note:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kziSayoqM

The bloke talks a bit slowly, but you get a good look at everything on the notebook.

It doesn't actually look slow, despite running the glass theme on Vista. The bloke says the only issue with its speed he's had is running Skype in video phone mode, though it's apparently fine in audio-only mode. Suspend-to-disk seems a bit slow, but I don't know if that's just Vista (never used it myself).

Quite impressed that the casing is actually real aluminium instead of the metallic-painted plastic that I'd assumed it was. The bloke raves about the keyboard several times throughout the video, and says he likes the trackpad despite normally being a trackpad hater. Screen looks lush...

Trawling through this and several other reviews, it seems that a lot of the heat and shortness of battery life comes from the top-end version being fitted with a 120GB 7200rpm HDD. Be interesting to see a review of the base model which has a 4GB SSD much like the EeePc; it might actually run cool and for a decent amount of time on the standard 3-cell battery pack.

[Kemper_Boyd]

I think the Linux and SSD version is far more interesting despite the slower
processor, slower should be a little better for the battery as well. HD's do
not belong in such machines IMHO. Also it has an ExpressCard slot so there's
an SSD upgrade path, I hope other 'UMPCs' copy this.

What impresses me is that HP have obviously done quite a lot of engineering
for a cheap machine, $499 isn't really much more than the Eee. I think that
in the long run such computers won't be used in addition to 'real' notebooks
or desktops, instead they will be the norm.

This prototype Atom based netbook looks very interesting as well.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-991233 ... g=nefd.top

[Misfit]

I just wish the linux version of the HP included bluetooth. I would want to tether it to a phone...

[HGFB]

I just wish the linux version of the HP included bluetooth. I would want to tether it to a phone...

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/15388.htm

[Misfit]

I just wish the linux version of the HP included bluetooth. I would want to tether it to a phone...

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/15388.htm

I know. But then I use up a USB port, have something minor sticking out and I have to worry about drivers.

If it is £9 to the consumer, in a casing, it can't cost HP much to add one.

[HGFB]

Drivers? It's linux. They're already in the kernel. My Eee has three USB ports. How many does the HP have?

[Firefox]

Two.

[HGFB]

I can see that would be a problem.

[Firefox]

Those craaazy Dutchies are being the first to offer the EeePc-like without the x86 CPU!

http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS3257992292.html

Instead they are substituting the 64-bit MIPS rip, ah, MIPS-inspired Chinese Loongson CPU! And the lids are having the so cool graphics!

[Firefox]

Instead they are substituting the 64-bit MIPS rip, ah, MIPS-inspired Chinese Loongson CPU!

Seriously though, the Godson 2F in it is a proper 64-bit MIPS-alike RISC processor and is about two watts TDP. Nothing Mickey Mouse about it at all.

[benedictw]

Whats the advantage here over the eeee ? just a faster CPU?

[Firefox]

The main advantage is four and a half hours runtime on a three-cell battery (no idea if a six-cell battery will be available).