Processors (CPU) in Netbooks
An emphasis is placed on battery life in all portable computers, but particularly so in Netbooks. This emphasis has led to several low power usage CPUs being developed specifically for the Netbook market. This page will detail and explain all the various Netbook CPUs and give some idea of their evolution. The CPU is at the core of the Netbook. It is the single most important component in determining both performance and battery life.
The two key things you want in a Netbook CPU are performance and battery life. In the tables below, performance is measured by Clock Speed (how fast the processor is running) and two spedific CPU measurements, 3DMark06 (higher is better) and SuperPI (lower is better). Battery life will also depend on other elements of the Netbook, but the CPU contribution to this is measured by Thermal Design Power or TDP (lower is better).
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Intel Celeron-M
Clock: <0.9Ghz, FSB: 400Mhz
TDP: 7W
3DMark06 CPU: NA*
SuperPI: 216*
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The very earliest Netbook CPU using a standard laptop processor derived from the Pentium M. This is a single core processor and can be found at speeds ranging from 570Mhz to 900Mhz in Netbooks on an FSB of 400Mhz. At it's fastest clock speed this chip is roughly on a par in terms of performance with the later Atom N270 1.6Ghz. Where the Celeron is lacking is in battery life, for similar performance levels the Celeron will give about half the battery life of an Atom N270.
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Intel Atom N270
Clock: 1.6Ghz, FSB: 533Mhz
TDP: 2.5W
3DMark06 CPU: 479*
SuperPI: 210*
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Atom N270 Netbooks:
Acer 531H,
Asus Eee S101,
MSI Wind 100,
Asus Eee 1001HA,
Samsung N130,
Samsung N140,
Samsung N310,
Samasung N110,
Samsung N120,
MSI Wind 120,
Asus Eee 1002,
Samsung NC10,
Eee 1000HA,
Asus Eee 904,
Acer 150,
Dell Mini 10v,
MSI Wind 100,
HP Mini 311,
Asus Eee 1008,
HP Mini 110,
Dell Mini 110,
Acer D250,
Acer D150,
Asus Eee 1000HA
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In early 2008 Intel announced the launch of a series of processors specifically aimed at the new Netbook market. The Intel Atom N series have these CPUs have very low power consumption so better battery life. Since launch, these Intel Atom / 'Diamondville' chips have been very popular and now make up the vast majority of Netbook CPUs. The cheapest and lowest performance of the Atoms is the single core Intel Atom N270. This is a single core CPU, supporting hyperthreading.
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Intel Atom N280
Clock: 1.66Ghz, FSB: 667Mhz
TDP: 2.5W
3DMark06: 502*
SuperPI: 194*
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Atom N280 Netbooks:
MSI Wind 100,
MSI Wind 123,
HP Mini 5101,
Samsung N510,
Toshiba 205,
Eee 1008,
HP Mini 311,
Eee 1002,
Eee 1005,
Dell Mini 10,
HP Mini 10,
Acer Aspire D250,
Acer Aspire D150,
Eee 1000HA
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The more powerful of the two Atoms, the N280 has exactly the same power requirements (2.5W TDP) but ups the clock speed to 1.66Ghz. The speed boost is actually larger than the 0.06Ghz improvement over the N270 implied by the clock speed, owing to a faster internal bus speed of 667Mhz versus 533Mhz.
For those wanting even greater battery life than the 'N' series Atom, Intel launched the 'Z' series. These are clocked at between 1.33Ghz (Z520) and 1.6Ghz (Z530) in Netbooks on a FSB of 533Mhz. The TDP is only 2W, so giving an approx 20% improvement in battery life over an Atom 'N'. There are not many Netbooks using this processor, perhaps because battery technology has developed to such a degree that 10hour battery life is possible from the faster N270/N280.
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Intel Atom 330
Clock: 1.6Ghz, FSB: 533Mhz
TDP: 8W
3DMark06 CPU: 820*
SuperPI: *
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A dual core version of the 270. Exactly the same as the 270 (and 230) but with two processing cores.
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Intel Atom 400 ('PineView')
Clock: 1.66-1.83Ghz, FSB: 533Mhz
TDP: 6W
3DMark06 CPU: *
SuperPI: *
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Atom 400 Series Netbooks:
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Becoming available in early 2010, the Atom 400 works alongside Intel's NM10 'Tiger Point' chipset to offer graphics and memory controllers all integrated into the chipset. The N400 single core version will be targetted at netbooks and will offer only slight performance improvements over the old N200 series. Graphics will be the integrated GMA500. The big improvement comes in chip size and hence chip temperature. The N400s will run cool, allowing slimmer Netbooks and greater battery life.
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VIA C7
Clock: 1-1.6Ghz, FSB: 400Mhz
TDP: 3.5-8W
3DMark06 CPU: *
SuperPI: *
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Early low voltage CPU from VIA. Launched in 2005 and used in many early netbooks. It is very slow in comparison to everything else.
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VIA Nano 2000
Clock: 1.2-1.8Ghz, FSB: 800Mhz
TDP: 6-10W
3DMark06 CPU: 585 (1.8Ghz)*
SuperPI: 208 (1.5Ghz)*
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The successor to the C7 and typically faster than an Atom of equal clock speed. Almost all Nanos have an internal bus (FSB) of 800Mhz, partly explaining this better performance.
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VIA Nano 3000
Clock: 1-1.4Ghz, FSB:
TDP: ?W
3DMark06 CPU: NA*
SuperPI: *
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Launched in November 2009.
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AMD Neo (Yukon)
Clock: ?Ghz, FSB: 1600Mhz
TDP: 15W
3DMark06 CPU: 582*
SuperPI: 132*
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AMDs answer to Intel's dominance of the Netbook market. Ultra low voltage processor launched in April 2009 specifically for mobile computing usage.
External Links
• VIA Nano L2100 vs Atom 230
• Intel Atom Overview
• Wikipedia list of Atom CPUs
• Notebookcheck Mobile CPU Benchmarks
• Article about AMD Yukon
Page last updated: 13-Dec-09
