Intel: We're Not Ditching The Atom Brand

How can the article be related to itself?

The market is clogged with them and people are realising these tiny units are useless for anything more then basic tasks - simple.

People always go for the cheapest nastiest options, see it all the time at my shop, we tell the customer "netbook - its basically for internet hence the name, maybe viewing photos or videos, music etc but not much more" and they still get them and still come back "oh it doesnt run my xxxxxx" "wheres the dvd" (FFS morons lol) - this is the reason.

I actually really like the Atom processors. My File/Backup server is running on an Atom D525 and draws 31W at idle. I'm positive that since I'm drawing so little power (~10% load) on an ancient PSU that if I got myself a PicoPSU I would probably be drawing 20-25W

Atom is something Intel did correctly, I love Atom. Hopes it will stay!

Sales have dropped because:

1.

a) The hype has somewhat passed. Most people that bought a Netbook in 2008 have little reason to buy another one as Intel hasn't given them any reason to do so. Current Atom are still being built with 45nm technology, while Intel has been selling CPUs built on 32nm technology since the beginning of 2010. Intel has just been milking the 45nm node. And now all of a sudden are going to release 32nm Atoms later this year, and within a year, 22nm Atoms. So, 3 years at 45nm, and now just a year at 32nm. Wonder why it isn't selling more 45nm Atoms ?

b) The Dual Core Atoms N550 and N570 are actually good performers, capable of decoding 720p in software, both offline and online (720p flash videos), but they get hot for such small platforms, with an 8.5w TDP. And then the GPU hasn't changed and you can't even play with acceptable framerates or even correctly render Half-Life 2, which came out in 2004, and the platform is still using 1.5v DDR3 that can also get hot because it is not actively cooled. The 32nm Atoms must use 1.35 or better yet, 1.25 low voltage DDR3 so-dimms, to improve battery life and perhaps more importantly, reduce heat output.

2. AMD has come to market with better offers. Their C-30 is good competition for the N455; their C-50 is good competition for the N550, and their C-60 is even better than the N570. And I'm only talking about CPU performance. AMD wins in GPU performance all days of the week, plus it already supports 4GB of RAM, and the platform also supports HDMI out, something Intel has yet to provide. We'll have to wait for their 32nm Atoms for that. Meanwhile AMD has already sold 12 million APU's, including the Netbook oriented C-30, C-50 and C-60.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Intel: We're Not Ditching The Atom Brand??? WHY!?! It's wasted silicon!!!

... its a hermaphrodite?

The term netbook doesn't have a good image, period.

i have acer one... and that is slowwwwwwwwwwww... i cant play warcraft 3.
:S a little piece of shit. i wand APU NOW!

They aren't, but we already have.

Intel, Y U NO?

I had to work with a lot of Atoms because many fools fall for the low power consumption nonsense and then I have to manage whole networks of these POS machines... they're absolutely USELESS. I advise all our clients against Atom.

2 days ago we also got an AMD Zacate box. Very good Mini-ITX Gigabyte board - has everything, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps, HDMI... but the CPU is useless, I'd take a Core 2 Duo over it ANY DAY.

In future, I plan to use i3-2100s in all low budget builds, these CPUs are great value for money, unlike the stupid Atom. So what if I can get the whole mobo with an Atom on it for the price of an i3-2100? The mobo will be $h!t and the PC will be slow as hell. Trust me, I've seen ENOUGH of this low-power junk. AMD or Intel, it doesn't have a place on desktops... Low-energy laptops - maybe, but I'd rather see Fusion than Atom there (and TBH, a Core i3 would still be better - WTF is the use for a low-power laptop if it's bloody slow?)

Atom's low power architecture sucks big-time. It's been proven that a 1.6 GHz Atom is about as fast as a 900 MHz Celeron M, and I'm convinced it is right by trying out both the old Celeron M EeePC 900 MHz (my netbook) and a newer Atom EeePC (1.6 or 1.8 GHz, not sure exactly).

Even for basic tasks, these CPUs are not enough. The systems freeze while writing an e-mail or copying files... they just suck. Atoms as they are must go.

If you really like Atoms, then you will love dual-core C-series APUs.
My 8w 10" C-50 netbook with 4 gigs RAM can ALSO easily handle Photoshop, Starcraft 2, full 1080p video, etc..
You can also find mini-itx size APU PCs that work as great little file severs and can actually play the HD video over HDMI to the TV.

atom is meant for simple tasks, not for heavy multitasking and definitely not for gaming. your not going to encode your entire bluray collection on a netbook, are you? atom consumes very little electricity so stop comparing it to 35w or even 25w TDP cpus. with the late release of amd's apus, it's not surprising that real improvements(and competitive pricing)in the low power cpu segment is just happening now.

Atom sucks in EVERY task, period. Browsers freeze. OS loading times are a pain. NOBODY needs an Atom unless it's just a file server.

It only means you don't need an atom. STOP claiming you think for everyone.

It's not supposed to play warcraft...it's a netbook processor.

My NETbook IS an Acer One and it CAN play Warcraft & StarCraft 2.
AO522 to be exact. It's also NOT an Atom, of course...
I expect the Cedar Trail to only have modest gains as well..
The Atoms where never ment to have high performance per watt or have high scalability. So the Atom needs a lot more love than it has been getting.

people buying these processors are not expecting an i7 performance out of it, those who do, are stupid.

No I WILL claim for everyone. 90% of "common users" I've seen are very unhappy with their Atoms. As I said, it's slow in ALL tasks. You know, even the average user likes his programs fast and without freezes. Read my posts before you dismiss them, for hell's sake.

atom was developed as a low-power cpu with slow performance. but over its 3 years existence, development on improving it was even slower, as if intel doesn't give a shit about it. so why bother it using one.

I dont know where this idoits get to by comparing the 10W atom to 25+ watt cpus. I have been using using my Acer Netbook since late 2009 and its still as good as it was then, I use it ONLY for travel use. meaning I use it when I am travelling (and thats atleast 15 days every month) . I use it for word processing , light gaming(Angry birds anyone?) GTA vice city, and most of the 2005 and older games.... that i cant get enough of. also most of my 720p movies collection is in there.

i am pretty sure that most of the idiots here are using the netbook out of the box... teust me just google for it and you will find many ways to get maximum performance out of the atom N450....
i have only changed to OS to Windows 7 pro.(edited to make it a little lighter) and added a 2GB Ram. I plan to add a 60 GB SSD .....

seconded

@maddy143ded

don't forget the bloatware manufacturers install,

agree completely. been using atom based solutions as work tools for a few years now & they perform exactly how i need them to. brilliant little things for checking your email with, doing any web research or as a basic diagnostic tool to make my life easier. it's a shame that clueless over-expectant buyers have give atom a bad rep.

who says that you have to use the manufacturers bloatware. I have never had a PC or laptop, that i have used without first formatting it, outright. you use the serial key thats at the back of your laptop to reinstall your OS. and drivers are readily available from the manufacturers or Intel itself. then install whatever you want to....
I just now did a fresh install on my sisters acer laptop. its a old C2D, that she got from her management college. it was filled with loads of crap and bloatware from the college. but i just reformatted it with Win 7 pro. and its running as good as new now.
I am supposed to get a new Asus Tablet from the Nvidia settlement pretty soon, and raring to play with it too. its an Atom dual core tablet, so it should be pretty faster then my old acer one. Acer has lasted me for nearly 2 years. and is still good for another year of usage for my little cousin....

I have a Acer too, and, my kid loves it. Period.
As long as you don't want them to go overboard, it's a cool thingy to have since my wife uses it too, I think it's pretty ok. The screen size sucks (10.1) but with that size on your chest, I think it'll be pretty big . Since it's just used for light browsing, watching movies, making phone backups, transferring music and videos and working on MS Office. It does it's job pretty well.

After all it is a Nettop. Not a full fledged PC..... it could have crammed in a lot more stuff today, no doubt, but it's technology, changes by the minute. The purpose for which these things are made , they do just fine, you can't expect the Morris Minor to win the Grand Prix, can ya?

I have three Atom based machines, two Acer nettops (a Veriton with N260G and a Revo with a D525) and a barebones with an N280.

The Veriton (N260G, 1GB mem) runs W7 connected to a 1080p TV and while not exactly fast, it is fine as a media player for the TV and for browsing, all on full 1080p through the HDMI.

The Revo (D525, 2GB mem) has W2K8R2 Web Edition as a test web server, and responds very well according to feedback I've had from users accessing the test sites on it. It can be a little slow opening programs though I put that down to the HDD being a slow 2.5 inch drive. I have seriously considered an SSD for it but not until prices are down enough to be workable.

The custom (N280, with 1GB mem) runs W2K8 and is used for Microsoft's WSUS and Forefront. It's in a test/evaluation configuration, but even with only ten computers to look after it can be very slow. However I'm effectively asking it to do a couple of tasks where the recommended processor is dual core at 2.8GHz, with 4GB of memory! So that it works at all is a bonus.

So for all the above tasks the Atom is just about fine. But for serious computing such as any kind of graphical processing, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

for those idiots that love Atom, try Fusion and u know what is good
Atom are just piece of shet that fools those idiotic fanboi, even VIA Nano are better than the Atom, if u looking for a POS system......
when Tegra came into netbooks market, Atom will be completely dead.

Ofcourse Atom will be dead in its current form.... and let me tell you I am the Biggest Fanboy of AMD.... but for the last 2-3 years Atom was virtually the king of netbook Hill. and it was AMD and other companies fault that they were not ready to compete at that level... I have used Fusion and I would love to get It , but since I am getting a Netbook free of cost (replacement after 3 years of wait for the Nvidia Litigation Settlement) I will use that for now. and since all the companies are going in a rapid development frenzy, tha product thats most talked about now will be biting dust in just 3-6 months.... so better of saving money where i can, and buy the best product availble when I actually need it...