The best Netbook for gaming.

HOLY CRAP!
Were do you get all this info.
Great job

 

Pineview netbooks still to have GMA 950 Maybe this will change by the end of the year?

 

Therefore the golden rule of notebooks also applies to netbooks:

Buy now what you can afford now.

In the case of netbooks, there's too many unknowns. If you need a netbook that can game reasonably well, then the Asus N10J is _*IT*_. Future is yet to be written.

 

for gaming? last year i would have said M1710 or Sager/Clevo etc but today i would say none. (see *cough* another recent thread of mine :/)

anyone got a "gaming notebook" used regularly for gaming that has lasted longer than 3 years? (with nothing going wrong)

 

The exact reason for not using OOOE is power consumption and die size. That won't happen. For those wanting much more than Atom would be satisfied by Core 2 ULVs.

Die size going up increases cost and ultimate CPU package size which doesn't work either. OOOE will probably double die size and power.

Successive generations of Atom will focus on more integration. Moorestown will integrated memory controller and graphics into the CPU, and the 32nm Medfield will be a single chip variant containing both the ICH and MCH in the CPU.

 

At 65-nm the Via Nano consumes less power and produces less heat then the 45-nm Atom and uses OoOE, higher FSB speeds and is clocked at 2Ghz. Via plans to shrink the Nano to 45-nm and offer a dual-core by the end of this year.

Nano vs Atom: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1540/9/intel_atom_vs_via_nano_platform_comparo/index.html

45-nm by end of 2009: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37466/139

 

Great! Thanks Phinagle.

Something to look forward to as a successor to my N10J middle of next year!

 

I really think wingnut itll be this year it seems to me as if Asus updates there notebooks ever year that mean we will probably see one around september-october.

 

Remember what the power measurement is based off: SYSTEM POWER consumption.

The mini-ITX Atom boards use Atom 230 and 945GC chipset. While the Netbook variants using N270 and 945GMS which are far more power efficient, the Atom mini-ITX boards doesn't.

We are comparing Netbooks right??

Atom 230: 4W
945GC: 22W

Atom N270: 2.5W
945GMS: 4W
ICH7: 1W

There's also another thing not mentioned. While the N270 with 2.5W TDP is a baseline Atom, the Nano with 5W TDP is the lowest power consumption version. Atom can scale down to 600mW.

You mention dual core Nano. With same architecture and clock speed, going to the next advanced process technology step grants approximately 30% savings in power consumption. Dual Nano on 45nm will consume more power while having bigger die size than 65nm single core Nano.

 

You might be...I'm not.

I'm offering evidence to support my claim in the text you originally quoted:

"There are simple improvements they can make to the Atom without going multiple cores."

If Via can offer improvements like OoOE in a platform that consumes less power at a larger die-size than the Atom platform it is directly competing with, and also have plans to further shrink the die-size to what the Atom currently is, then Intel should be able to offer a similar improvement to the Atom without having to double the die-size and power consumption as you suggested.

The Via Nano also proves that, even with an increase to power consumption, those kind of improvements offer better performance per watt which is something that going dual-core does not do since doubling the cores does in fact also double the die-size and power consumption.

 

That's exactly my point though. Your proof is a review of an Atom on a Nettop platform which uses a 4W Atom CPU and 22W 945GC chipset. Which if you compared a more power efficient chipset like 945GMS and N270 it'll be in Atom's favor.

Atom is a 24.2mm2 die size and Via is 63.3mm2. Sure cache size will decrease to 0.5x the previous process tech, but logic scales much worse, at around 0.7-0.75x. It will still make Nano almost twice as large at 45nm.

So are we comparing platforms or CPUs here?? You seem like you want to talk about CPUs, which then makes my point all valid.

(BTW, before the release of Nano everyone believed that Nano would have consumed less power than the C7. Well the lowest C7 is a 3.5W part while Nano is a 5W part at the same clock speed. Via C7 on 90nm is 30mm2 part while Nano is a 63.3mm2 part with 65nm. Nobody ever gets a free ride)

Oh why am I going off-topic with this. I'm pretty sure there are netbook users that look forward to same CPU you are suggesting, and that would be the niche market Nano would fill.

 

Well the Atom's architecture is on par with Pentium 4 isn't it? That means quite a number of games are in range for running. FEAR and BF2 "require" a 1.7 GHz Pentium 4 or better. Far Cry only required a 1 GHz Pentium 3. Too bad things haven't been going as well as possible for Via, as the Via Nano is in many ways 2x better than the Atom at barely an increase in power draw, it could even handle Crysis at an acceptable level (and I'm sure the physics were turned down as far as possible ). Quite a number of games are accessible for the Nano, but I think people are trying the wrong games, assuming they have one of the few netbooks with dedicated graphics.

I'm somewhat interested in the upcoming HP dv2z, as it's got a just above netbook class processor, a 1.6 GHz Athlon Neo and optional dedicated graphics, HD Radeon 3410 w/ 256 dedicated VRAM, in a 12 in package that's very attractive to me the prospective buyer. T'would be a nice foil to my 15.6 in Asus gaming notebook when I don't feel like lugging it around, even though it's pretty portable. I just want to know at what cost, and I'd rather have a Via Nano system, for much less power draw.

Via Nano 2.0 GHz + GeForce 9400M/Radeon HD 3410 + 2 GB DDR2 + ~11 inch screen + Windows XP = Happy camper I'd be

 

Yes the new HP dv2 does look very nice but the only thing I can find comparing the HP dv2 to a ASUS N10J are the WEI scores after doing some extensive research this is what I can find.....


------------------------dv2-------------N10J

CPU...........................3.4..................3.3
MEM/RAM..................4.9..................4.6
GRAPHICS.................3.5..................5.9
GAMING GRAPHICS....3.9..................4.8
HARD DISK................5.7..................5.4
WEI SCORE................3.4..................3.3
Now I know WEI scores really mean nothing in gaming but it shows that the N10J is more powerful in the GPU department
NOTE: all these scores are not official but the only ones I can find on the web, the HP dv2 was shown as a test unit with a very early hands on review.

 

Ion netbooks larger than 10" coming

 

Big deal. The N10 is already a borderline too big for netbook. 12.1" you might as well get a Core 2 Duo CPU then.

 

Link

 

I agree. At what point is it no longer a netbook? No way a 12.1" screen will be available with ION for under 400 bucks. If so, I'll be hopping right on that.

 

I believe that Lenovo is a mock-up, but a very nice mockup in my opinion. I hope when Ion netbooks show up, they'll be around the same price as the current models, not too much more and they have HDMI ports.

 

This comment is interesting:

Sounds like screen manufacturers don't want to touch the smaller screens. However, I would think that with the boom in netbooks, that the 8.9" and 10" screens would create enough market to make them worth the tooling investment.

This worries me though. Sounds like the low end notebooks may end up containing netbook guts. So your $350 cheap core 2 duo notebook will now use an Atom CPU instead. Of course there's few (if any) 12" notebooks out there for less than $400.

The real attraction of netbooks are their size. Making them any bigger than 10" kills the market.

 

Say bye bye to 8.9" E-EE's

 

Well 8.9" gone is no big deal. Most of those netbooks could easily accommodate 10" screens with slight modifications. Unified at 10" is good, I think. It's a usable screen size. I just hope they unify the resolution to at least 1366x768 for 1024x768 support. All the other netbooks at 7" and even 8.9", the keyboards are just too small to be of any use.

 

Switching to 10" isn't really a bad thing if they keep the frame size the same, there's definately enough room on my Aspire one for a 10" screen so I can't see why they'd have to completely remake it.

I definitely agree on the screen resolution change, but I think you're off a bit, 1366x768 is actually 16/9, the screen resolution would most likely be bumped to 1280x800 standard.

I haven't used any other netbooks, but I can type at the same speed on my aspire one as I can on my desktop, I actually have never had a problem missing a keystroke with it and actually prefer it's size to my full size desktop keyboard for some reason.

Also, contrary to what the creators of these things seem to think, I didn't buy my aspire one based on price, which is what they seem to think the only target of these notebooks are at. I bought this because of it's small size, and amazing battery life. I would have paid twice as much had it have been even more powerful, and would gladly pay upwards of $2000 for a notebook of this size and mobility that can play crysis on high smoothly I also did buy this with gaming in mind, but knew it's limits, which is why I usually use it to play SNES roms and older directX 7 games, but again, would gladly pay more if it were even more capable.

 

Not true on the size. Have you seen a 9" EEE next to a 10" one, there is a big size difference. And Asus won't just put a 10" screen in a 9" EEE. Lets hope that the slimmer size EEE's (S101 and 1002HA) take over the fat 1000 series soon.

 

Well I'm happy Lenovo is picking up the ION platform (IMO the S10 is the nicest looking netbook), and I really like the idea of an 11" ultra-thin, but I agree this trend of trying to use the Atom to power sub-notebooks with larger screens is a bad direction.

Eventually though these 12" sub-netbooks will likely start using the AMD Neo and Intel's CULV and that will probably spell the end of the whole 10" netbook category. So many people buy netbooks thinking they're cheap alternatives to full-specced notebooks, especially the very over-priced 11" and 12" notebooks. The Neo and CULV will genuinely provide the kind of performance people think they're buying when they get an Atom-powered netbook at a price way below an 11" dual-core notebook.

We'll then only see the dual-core Atoms in nettops and the single-core Atoms in hand-held MIDs.

 

WOW! Now that is elegant !

 

I own both an Eee 900 and 1000h. There is a lot more bezel around the 10" screen than the 9", and comparing them, you are right, the 10" wouldn't fit exactly in the 9", but it's close.

I agree though the slimmest and smallest they can get it the better. I like my N10J, but if it could weigh just a little less, and be a little thinner, it would be ideal (ok, throw in a 1366x768 screen).

 

N10 to get GN40 and Nvidia 9400M

More

 

.....lol so i guess its called the X10J? I kept saying a new one would come out soon...i just hope the bezel isnt the same as the N10j because its too thick.

 

seems nice. really nice..and sexy!

 

Nvidia developing Ion for Via netbooks

 

This all is great news, our little netbooks are growing up real fast..."sniff" I'm so proud of them.
I was really happy to hear about the ION platform finally announced and start to appear in products, and the new ASUS Pro10J gets a nice boost for the GPU,with some OC'ing of the ATOM it should make already good gaming netbook even better..
I just wonder when they are coming out? and I hope they are not too much more $$$ than the current model...YESSSSSSSSS

 

Intel has filed suit against Nvidia claiming the GPU manufacturer does not have licensing rights to produce chipsets supporting Intel's CPUs that use integrated memory controllers.

So no Ion and Pineview.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/18/intel-takes-nvidia-to-court-over-chipset-licensing/

 

That means second generation Ion will be paired with Via.

 

its looks like for businessman not a gamer

 

like myself

 

....what? They cut the picture off for some reason........

 

I'm pretty sure you will see it soon the way Nvidia is pushing it, and why not.It improves everything,Intel should be happy to pair up with them and put out this very promising product

 

I play starcraft on mine all the time, other then that I bust out the dell. I do wanna try WoW though.

 

can you play warcraft 3????? that what i want to do!!!

 

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING works on the N10 so far.

I know this may be a cop out, but Crysis at 800x600 with low/med settings runs fine actually. I didn't believe it until I tried it.

Warcraft 3 works perfectly fine. Even Far Cry 2, Dead Space, Fallout 3, run perfectly fine.

I haven't tried FEAR 2 yet, but will give it a go. So far I am so impressed with this device, best money spent on a portable PC ever.

 

F.E.A.R. 2 plays great on my Sager rig., I hope you can get the N10J to play it.
It doesn't seem to demanding but my Sager handles it with ease(see sig. for details).
Just the first scene with the spooky little girl is really freaky!
And sorry htwingnut for posting about something else you already reported on that other great website( you know which one) and hopefully the newer N10J(X or PRO or whatever they are going to call it) will be able to add a little more punch our way.
I do hope they bump up the screen resolution a bit, the lid on the N10J looks like it has some extra space for it.

 

The Intel vs Nvidia war is on.

 

That's wonderful in a sad and pathetic kind of way.

I hope Fudzilla sues.

 

Ion News
More war
Ion 2 fights Pineview

The war continues!

 

ARGHHH.. How can Intel defend against it?


I want a little 9'-11' Powerful Gaming thing. I wanna carry it with me everywhere, I want to game, write and do stuff with it everywhere.

Who is to say, how people wanna use their netbooks and for what? 13-15' notebooks are just so big. I can't be bothered to take them everywhere. No. I want a smaller and more comfortable machine. I wanna plug it to my TV, or my home monitor when I get home. I wanna use it on the bathroom, in the kitchen.

that's the true progression of mobility. small, but powerful.


Intel, how can you be so lame?

 

I hope Nvidia are victorious. I am fed up of the rubbish low powered integrated intel chips used for graphics. They are trying to say that Netbooks are supposed to be used for basic tasks such as web browsing, email etc but why limit them to that. Technology is in constant motion and I am fed up of it being held back to suit others needs. I completely understand why Intel want to do this though.

 

The netbook market is where AMD/ATI need to enter. They are both a CPU/GPU design and manufacturer now. If they are smart they could destroy anything that Intel has to offer. Intel is a great CPU design and development company, but they don't know squat about good 3D.

And use intelligent design. Raw horsepower is great, but as we've seen CPU's evolve, it's a lot about architecture and creative programming.

I've always wondered why games are so HUGE after seeing these demos - try the ".kkrieger" game demo. Only 96KB in size (yes KB), but a fully functional very good looking game. This is the creative thinking I'm talking about.

 

New Geforce for slim notebooks

 

Nice! Wonder if this will ever make it into a netbook?

 

Ion not popular at Cebit