[dba-Tech] How fast is Atom processor?

Gustav Brock Gustav at cactus.dk
Tue Dec 8 06:08:08 CST 2009


Thanks Gary! I'm seeing a picture now.

/gustav


>>> garykjos at gmail.com 08-12-2009 12:56 >>>
Doug said I could repost his message from the OT thread I mentioned.
So here is Doug Steele's recent post regarding his experience with a
Netbook system......

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have an HP110 Mini netbook, and I really like it - it is SO small and
handy.  On it I have installed Office 2003 (with Access), SQL Server
Express, Visual Studio 2008 Pro, Windows 7.  They all run acceptably.  I
upgraded from 1gb RAM to 2gb but that hasn't really made much of a
difference, much to my surprise.  I also have a 4gb SD card permanently set
up for caching.

Serious development work is possible, but only if I'm plugged into a 17"
monitor.  The small keyboard is a bit of a learning experience.

For the road, though, it's fantastic.  Much easier to read pdfs or watch
movies than on my iPhone. Battery life is acceptable (around 4 hours); if I
was going on a trip I'd invest in the double size battery pack.

Doug Steele

On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 6:41 AM, Gary Kjos <garykjos at gmail.com> wrote:
> We recently had a thread on the OT list that touched on that subject
> and someone, I know who it is but won't name names since I haven't
> asked his permission, commented that he has an HP Netbook on which he
> runs Office 2003 and Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server Express and
> they run at an acceptable level of performance to him. Hopefully he
> will reply here with some more details. He mentioned the screen size
> being an issue and that he connects to an external monitor with it to
> get around that problem when he needs more screen space. I think it
> might someone depend on what you are used to and what you find
> acceptable for performance.
>
> Prior to reading that post there I was thinking that they were only
> good for browsing etc. My company has one Senior manager that uses a
> Netbook and he has had issues several times with not being able to
> open some large spreadsheets. He does work with some REALLY LARGE
> spreadsheets though.
>
> GK
>
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 4:35 AM, Gustav Brock <Gustav at cactus.dk> wrote:
>> Hi all
>>
>> I'm wondering if the small and cheap netbook machines with an Atom processor are useful for any kind of development work? Respecting the small screen of course. Or are they just toys for browsing the web and reading e-mails?
>>
>> The info to locate tells similar stories, that it is comparable to an 800 MHz/1 GHz 130 nm Pentium-M. That doesn't sound impressive compared to my slowest workstation with Pentium 4, 2.2 GHz.
>> But do any of you have any practical experience with these machines?
>>
>> /gustav





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