Any idea how the N470 will stack up against the N450?

I have been watching the introduction of the Atom Pine Trail processors with a lot of interest and have been looking at buying a Eee PC 1005PE, which uses an N450, since they were introduced. Part of the reason I am looking that the 1005PE is the incredible battery life, I will be traveling internationally and will not have access to charging often, an impressive 14 hours is claimed by ASUS. But I am not that excited by the mediocre 1.66 GHz clock speed. So when I heard that the N470 was on it's way and will have a clock speed of 1.83 GHz I figured I'd wait. However in looking at articles about the new N470 I've noticed that it's power draw is higher than the N450 6.5 Watts (max TDP) and 5.5 Watts respectively.

How much of a hit will this put on the above average battery life of a system like the 1005PE? I really hope I will be able to enjoy the performance of the N470 while still retaining most of the energy savings the Pine Trail architecture promised in the N450. And also, will the extra speed actually be noticable? Why wait if it's for nothing.

Thanks

 

There will be little practical difference between a 1.66GHz and a 1.83GHz Atom CPU in terms of performance. TDP is not the same as power consumption . . . all TDP specifies is how much the heatsink the processor is paired with must be able to dissipate. The higher TDP of the 1.83GHz chip indicates it consumes more power so battery life will be less - by how much I don't know, probably not more than a half hour. The Atom is in my opinion out of place in a traditional computer; it is too weak to handle any sort of multitasking and can barely surf the Internet fluidly.

Consider a notebook based on the Intel CULV platform instead - they have 11.6"+ screens and Celeron/Pentium Dual-Core/Core 2 Duo ULV processors. If you complete the FAQ we can help:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=29271
Just fill that out and make a thread in the What Should I Buy forum - we'll help you find something. Something like the Acer Timeline 1810 comes to mind.

 

I have actually been looking at both the Acer 1810 Timeline and 1410 recently. Thanks for the clarification on TDP, I had been misinterpreting it.

 

What kind of computer do you have now (specs)? Also, what specific programs do you run?

 

As it stands I have an XPS M1530 with a 2.2 Core 2 Duo and 3 Gigs of ram. But I am looking into Netbooks and Thin and Lights because I am going to Ecuador for six months next year as part of college. There I should only be doing word processing, light surfing and Skype. I also don't know how often I will be able to charge there.

I am still a bit leery of 10 inch Eee pc's; I know they are very solid machines, with amazing battery life, but I want a higher resolution screen. That is what has pointed me to the 1810 timeline and the 1410. I still want to keep the price down as much as possible, but getting double the RAM, a larger cache, screen size, and a real version of Windows 7 is seeming increasingly worth it for only around $150 more.

The only reservation I have about going to Acer is that I have no notion of the dependability of their machines, or their international warranty. I have no reason to think their products are poor, I simply know that ASUS products aren't, and am somewhat inclined to stick with what I know.

 

You are likely not encountering any lack of CPU power with your current system, based on your uses. I find there is little difference between my 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo and one of the ULV Core 2 Duos in the CULV notebooks (SU7300 1.3GHz) for general everyday use (Firefox/YouTube/Skype/Office).

1024x600 is a very confining resolution, I suggest avoiding it at all costs. The best you will get for a 13.3" and under screen is 1366x768 (for a reasonable price, anyway). I have it on my HP 13.3" . . . it works well enough I suppose, hard to complain given what I paid.

Understood about wanting to stick with what you know. Acer has been very successful with the Timeline series. I suggest visiting our Acer forum and checking out owner comments.
I don't have any experience with the Acer Timelines but I can safely say avoid the ASUS UL series notebooks (except the UL30Vt . . . which doesn't really meet your needs). They have poor build quality and keyboards and are not good examples of the expected ASUS quality standards (which continue to fall ).
For right now, the Acer Timeline is my best suggestion. Might try making a thread with the FAQ filled out here so other members can chime in:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16