Which netbook: Atom or Fusion?

Question

I am looking to buy a netbook that will last for a few years. It will be used for browsing and I want it to be snappy.

Seeing as rendering and video decoding will be making more use of the GPU going forward, I have been paying attention to AMD's new Fusion platform hoping that it will provide solid graphics performance where the Intel GMA3150 is supposed to be weak.

However, the Atom is supposed to have the faster CPU. I know it's early days, with Fusion only getting full support in the kernel with Natty, so which platform would you recommend?

Answer 1

In reality I would more go with Fusion because the concept definitely will pay off as the software gets better.

However, as you say, Atom has the better CPU - but there is a catch. Atoms are not very good at handling large loads, so if you will be using a lot of tabs, you might find some trouble there. Also, there are some higher end Fusion APUs with more power (according to what I read) than equivalent Atoms.*

I would suggest you wait a little (a few months?) and get a system such as Acer's new ultrathin (forgot the name sorry) with more powerful hardware (for example, Core i3 or i5, and possibly stronger graphics). That would be a better fit for you go forward, especially in light of the improvements/additions to the software stack that are sure to come. Or you could get a good system from System 76 or ZaReason with good specs and a small size, without compromising too much.

* See this link:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion

Answer 2

these netbooks both use an intel atom CPU nvidia graphics GPU.

At the moment I have this 12" netbook, I think it's very good for surfing, writing and watching films. There is also an updated version! The 1215 The updated version has 1.8 GHz dual core cpu, (a max of 4 gb RAM.) Which is very good for a 12" netbook!

One of the main reasons I've bought my 12" netbook was that it had a fullscale keyboard, which helps a lot.

All of these netbooks have an Atom cpu, and I think they are better one a small light computer. Because they use little power and still have enough performance to do the tasks a normal user require, like surfing the web, writing, etc.

I've upgraded the RAM in my netbook to 4GiB, it helps a lot if you use many tabs in chrome while watching a film.