†
AND IT’S HERE, thank goodness.
I’ve already written so much about Netbooks (or sub-notebooks, or mini-laptops, whichever you choose to call ëem) because I’ve used quite a number of them since they were introduced in the Philippine Market in January 2008.† I’m an early adopter.
It comes with the territory.† CIO’s all over are more and more under pressure to do more with less.† In my case it is also a matter of credibility.† If I advocate something I better be willing to lead the charge.† For instance, I am a fervent believer in Open Source software, so I am first to use Open Source software.† I told both my boss and my people that Netbooks are viable as PC alternatives for business even before Netbooks entered the local market. So when the first of them, the Asus Eee, arrived I dumped my full-sized, full-featured, Intel CoreDuo-powered laptop in favor of the tiny first generation Linux-based Asus Eee.† I used it for over two months and was quite content with it.
I’ve used two other Netbooks between my Asus Eee and my present darling, the Acer Aspire One.
The first generation Asus Eee is powered by an Intel Celeron microprocessor.† The next two I used are powered by VIA Ultra Mobile PC microprocessor.† The first is the ASTONE UMPC.† The second is the Gigabyte tablet PC.† My current Acer Aspire One is powered by Intel’s ATOM microproceesor, the smallest microprocessor Intel ever produced and designed specifically for Netbooks.
I’ve used Celeron-powered laptops since when I was still in IBM.† Celeron is generally good enough for most applications.† The only not-so-good observation I have of the Celeron is that it dissipates heat much faster than Pentiums.† But this is not a fatal flow since most laptop users don’t really use their laptops non-stop beyond four hours everyday.† I may be an exception though.
VIA-powered laptops take at least twice as much time to boot up.† They also seem to max out earlier than usual when subjected to multi-threading tasks. In layman’s words, don’t attempt to open too many applications simultaneously.† But that flaw of the VIA is also not fatal.† It’s something most users, including a “power user” like me, can live with.
The sluggishness of the VIA and the “hot temper” of the Celeron don’t seem to be present in the Atom.† That’s as far as I can tell, about three weeks since I switched to my Acer Aspire One.
According to Intel, Atom is positioned to be a notch below Celeron, performance-wise.† Frankly, I have not seen any substantial performance gap between the two.† Again, it may be a difference that will only be noticeable at extreme computing conditions.† Even if I do notice the difference I am sure it is nothing I will lose sleep over.† Else you forget I have used the first generation Netbooks and is quite pleased with them.† As far as I am concerned the Atom gives the Netbooks a big push.
†
Which leads me to the conclusion that the Atom is the final solution to making the Netbook a legitimate desktop and laptop alternative.
There have been many other enhancements to the Netbooks since they were introduced late last year, including better screen size and resolution, more connectivity options, more hardware compatibility, and so on.† But none of these have as much impact as the Atom’s.
At the end of the day it is the most basic unit of matter, the atom, that matters.† After all, as far as computers are concerned, the microprocessor is THE computer. Everything else is a just a peripheral. #
Hi Missy, good for you I did a side-by-side comparison b/n Acer Aspire One and the new Atom-powered Asus Eee. Here are the essential differences (One/Eee):
HDD 120GB/80GB
Screen 8.x”/10.x”
Price PhP26,700/PhP29,900
Most other features are the same. You may find it interesting that after agonizing for hours on which one to choose, the deciding factor for me was the keyboard layout. I find Aspire One’s to be better engineered particularly in relation to the arrow keys, page up, and page down.
How does ASPIRE One compare withe the new ASUS Eee with Intel Atom?