Mini notebook computers, otherwise known as netbooks, are made for consuming online media and that gives the false assumption to people that these little laptops are not good for anything else than running one browser and a media player. They’re wrong, but let me explain why.
Even though netbooks are made for browsing, they happen to pack much more punch than what the common user would expect. In fact users of netbooks get used to what they can and cannot do, and then cross one item a day on the ‘Can’t do’ list.
The average netbook comes with a single core Intel Atom processor clocked at around 1.6GHz. The common misconception is that these processors are so stripped from every function that they barely work anymore, and despite the 1600MHz clock rate their performance is dreadful.
They’re not the fastest cores around the block, but they do everything they’re supposed to. A single core atom processor is about half as fast as Pentium M Dothan mobile processor clock-for-clock. Unfortunately that’s not enough to play 1080p movies, but there are no notebooks, laptops in the $300 price range that can, whether refurbished or brand new.
Intel included HyperThreading technology in all N2xx Atoms achieving a reasonable multi-tasking speed in normal circumstances. This solution doesn’t raise floating point operation speed of the core itself, but helps to utilize it better when there are many threads competing for resources. It boosts speed in applications that benefit from multiple cores by as much as 35%.
In games however netbooks with these processors fail miserably, not only because the processor-memory link bottlenecks data flow speed, but the integrated graphic core is designed to render Windows desktop using as little energy as possible. There are solutions from Nvidia that utilize a better GPU and memory controller with a single or dual core atom to make sure HD video playback is no problem, and some older games work fine, too.
If you’re at all like the average netbook user you’ll have no problem with yours, everyday online applications work properly on the tiny screen. The usual 1GB memory doesn’t hold performance back and lets multiple programs to be used at the same time. While these computers are undoubtedly made for browsing, they work well with word processors and some light image editing is no obstacle either.
Don’t listen to people who say netbooks are too slow for general use. Actually, don’t listen to people who say it is good enough, you know what you’re going to use it for, there are many places where you can try them for free. Computer stores tend to showcase them during operation and I strongly suggest you take the time to see if they’re for you.
Interested in Mobile Computing and Laptops?
Read on to learn more about Atom Processor Netbooks.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mika_Staplesson
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