Originally Posted by mothergoose729

The problem is that current technology is far out pacing consumer demands and expectations. When most people get a computer the most complicated thing they plan on doing is running a program like itunes, while downloading from lime wire, at the same time as viewing a video in HD on youtube. Coupled with a proper IGP the atom can handle light gaming and full HD movies, making it perfect for 95% of all the consumer anywhere. You have to look at it like this:

Most people have neither the desire nor the technical know how to do any video encoding or editing on their computers. A bit more common but still a very small minority; audio encoding and photo editing are all possible on a dual core atom with a proper graphics chipset.

Nobody but folders care what a desktop/consumer OEM product does with mathematic and scientific applications.

Something like 86% of game sales are for console systems. Of the 14% that are for the PC, a sizable chunk of that is devoted to simple mom and pop games like bejeweled, and low demand MMORPG's such as WOW. And this has very little to do with piracy. That is just the market.

A person with a dual core atom and ion chipset would likely not know the difference between their machine and a full blown i7 given what they do on a day to day basis. While the atom is a big step backward for performance, it is a huge cash cow for intel given the current market and technical demands of your average folk (you know, people who could almost replace their desktop with a smart phone) Small, cheap, stylish atom desktops will make intel billions. It is the largest and one of the most untapped parts of the market. It has the potential to become the "model T" of computing. And with further R&D and continued die shrinks, it won't be long until atoms can find their way into cell phones, cars, televisions, tee-shirts, hell who knows. With next to zero competition from AMD or VIAO in this regard, atom can and probably will sweep the market until a real competitor emerges or consumer demands evolve.

Fear the atom

Originally Posted by Manyak

Don't get me wrong, the Atom has its place in the market: SOHO NAS/Firewalls, very low demand servers, netbooks with several hours of battery life, and even thin clients. But it is by no means a desktop CPU.

Originally Posted by Manyak

Who said anyone would care about scientific calculations?

The ALU/FPU are extremely relevant to the average consumer. They take care of:
- Video/Audio Playback
- Compression and Decompression (zip files)
- Encryption and Decryption (BitLocker)
- Windows GUI (even with Aero it still does some work)
- Virus Scanning
- The TCP/IP Stack
- Firewall
- Image Editing
- Video Conferencing
- Voice Calls
- Printer Rendering
- Web Page Rendering
- Flash Animations
- Flash Games
- Search Parsing

And a ton more.

And by the way, photo editing and video playback are not affected by the graphics chipset unless the software is coded to use it. And even with GPU assisted HD playback (and flash), it's just that: assisted. The CPU still has to do work.

You also have to take into consideration that while people like us might use Photoshop CS4 for adjusting our photos and therefore get something out of the GPU, the standard consumer uses Windows Image Editor. And this goes for plenty of other programs, and even audio/video codecs.

Do you have an Atom 330 board? Try installing Windows 7 and Firefox on it and see how jittery web browsing becomes when there are lots of images on a page. It's still done completely by the CPU.

Is it a gold mine for Intel? Absolutely. But an Atom desktop is like a Prius. It's small, economic, 'cute', and a total piece of crap. And all Intel cares for are profit figures and stock prices. And since they can make more profit per CPU with an Atom than with a Celeron, that's what they want to sell to you.

Don't get me wrong, the Atom has its place in the market: SOHO NAS/Firewalls, very low demand servers, netbooks with several hours of battery life, and even thin clients. But it is by no means a desktop CPU.

Originally Posted by mothergoose729

That may all be true, but in the end it really doesn't matter. Its sad but most people are upgrading out of the Pentium 4 days, many of which where equipped with inadequate memory. A N330 with 2gb of RAM will feel like a god send to these people. The reality is that M$ is bending over backwards to provide a windows 7 client that will run smoothly on a single core netbook. The average person spends very little of their time zipping or unzipping files, encrypting, decompressing, ect, and even still in light uses of these applications the atom is still passable. Internet flash and web page rendering aren't weak points of the atom in actual use. Windows GUI is something that most people care about, but even atom paired with intels integrated crap can't still give a fairly "pretty" desktop. Not dream scenes but some basic aero for sure. The weakest point of the atom package is still the graphics, and with larrabee coming, as well as ion and 3 and 4 thousand series integrated already existing, their are solutions to these problems.

I am not attacking you or anything Manyak, and I completely agree with everything you are saying. All accept that an atom cannot be a desktop replacement. It can be, and for a lot of people it probably will be.

Originally Posted by Hephasteus

Anyone who clocks a cpu so fast it forgets it's name deserves a pat on the back.

Originally Posted by iandh

DECIMATE DESTROY PWN OWN OBLITERATE

Are those today's new terms for "slightly faster than"?

Originally Posted by sLowEnd

As crappy as intel's integrated graphics are, I'll have to disagree with you there.
The X3100 is actually capable of running youtube HD smoothly. It's a very common IGP and several people I know have it.

Btw, G45 motherboards have never really been that cheap for whatever reason. G31/G35 boards are a lot cheaper (Like $30 cheaper)

Originally Posted by Tator Tot

Yes & No Manyak.

While almost all your points are correct, couple the Atom 230 w/ a 9400, or 8400, or HD3450 GPU and it will handle 1080p playback just fine.

Originally Posted by Licht

What's the performance cost?

Originally Posted by arkheii

Well, it's much prettier than the Asus P55. That was colored piss, this is colored turd.

Originally Posted by justarealguy

lol, this was for shiz n giggles.