Considering Netbook - how powerfull are Intel Atom processors?

I have a 6yr old Fujitsu lifebook with a pentium M 1.4 processor with 512MB RAM running XP. The keyboard just failed and I think its time to replace it.
I am just curious how the Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor compares with my 6-year old Pentium M 1.4. I ask because I hope to configure an Acer aspire one with the same XP configuration (antivirus software, ms office etc.) and I am concerned about a potential performance reduction.
Thanks

 

It'll be about the same.
Gimme 5 mins, I'll do some everest benches atom 1.6 vs m 1.7

 

The raw performance will be the same. But in reality, benchmark isn't everything. Atom based netbooks will feel much faster and more reponsive due to faster FSB, Ram, hdd..etc and almost everything else.

 

Bench numbers might not be everything, but I've been wanting to do this one for a while.

Results from Everest Ultimate 5.00
Winners are in bold. (even though the cpu clocks aren't even the same )

Atom 1.6
CPU Queen - 3777
CPU PhotoWorxxx - 2277
CPU ZLib - 8422
CPU AES - 1840
FPU Julia - 783
FPU Mandel - 142
FPU SinJulia - 284

Pentium M 1.66
CPU Queen - 3179
CPU PhotoWorxxx - 3297
CPU ZLib - 9477
CPU AES - 2899
FPU Julia - 667
FPU Mandel - 316
FPU SinJulia - 373

 

Pentium 1.4 is faster than Atom 1.6. There are many banchmarks on the net that you can find on Google.

I have a Pentium 1.6 and it's quite a lot faster than Atom 1.6.

But still Atom 1.6 is fast enough for my netbook.

 

I agree with the above comments: CPU performance isn't everything. More and faster RAM, faster HDD and faster graphics will result in any of the standard netbooks with Atom + 1GB (upgradeable to 2GB) + 160GB HDD feeling faster.

If you would prefer a 12.1" display then consider the Samsung NC20 (link below to my review).

John

 

My experience does not agree with that.

I have a Asus 1.6 Pentium - M with 1Gb and the NC10 with 1GB. I connect them to the same 22 inch screen. The Asus is a lot faster with multi tasking and can handle a lot more tabs with flash. I keep my Asus in good order though, it's running XP performance edition with 30 processes.

The NC10 is fast enough for 1024*600 resolution though. Flashblock helps a lot.

I wouldn't be surprised if the OP's Fujitsu performs very similar or even better than an Acer One. It will depend a lot on how that specific Fujitsu performs, what hard drive it uses etc.

Depending on which Acer one he chooses, it might be using a cheap sluggish SSD.

 

See netbooks vs ultraportables vs notebooks: cpu performance and power consumption

 

Here are benchmarks that compare Atom 1.6 GHz vs. 1.6 GHz Pentium M under the same circumstances.
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3321&p=8

 

You're talking about roughly the same performance. Remember that the OP is talking about a 1.4 Pentium M. Combined with the faster speed of the ram and the ssd, it should be about the same.

You can't really feel +/- 5% change in performance anyway, so any difference should be negligible.

 

My greatest concern is a the ability to run many applications in the background. With my 6-year old laptop i have the following running
Avira anti-virus
diskeeper 2008
microsoft outlook
data deposit box (online backup service)
roboform (for IE passwords)
google desktop
spybot (spyware)

This is on a machine with 512MB

Will I run into significant lag problems with a Atom processor 1.6
with 1G?

thanks

 

To me it doesn't sound like a netbook with Atom is the right choice for you.

 

You can approach the problem scientifically by looking in Task Manager on your present computer and seeing how much CPU is used by which processes and how their total compares with the system idle time.

John

 

Just out of curiousity, why not? those are pretty mundane apps, really. I don't see why not.

I'd recommend upgrading the ram to at least 1gb. RAM is so dirt cheap now, you may as well go to the max for that netbook.

 

I have a Samsung NC10 with 1GB and am very happy with it. While it's fast enough for web browsing, multi-tasking makes it stutter quite easily. Especially when there is some flash involved. Flash is definitely not a strong point for the Atom and causes high CPU loads. (I'm assuming he wants to browse with the other applications running in the background).

The applications he intends to use are not really heavy, except for Outlook. Last time I used Outlook it was resource hog. Not only for the CPU, but also for I/O. Not the kind of apps I would be multi-tasking with on a netbook.

But it's been a while since I've used Outlook, so maybe things have changed.

 

things should be much better now for outlook 2007 with sp2.

but multitasking really isn't the stronges point of the atom, that's true..