http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 9:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Come to daddy. Come to daddy.
]]>Sep 16th 2009 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 2:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
(I like S60, but it does involve a lot of waiting on my N75.)]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 11:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 2:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Smartbook are going to become more popular and im sure MS doesn't want to miss that party.]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/candygram

LANDSHARK!]]>Sep 16th 2009 3:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 12:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 10:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
1. 2 GHz Cortex A9 CPU
2. ION style chipset
3. low power touchscreen pixelqi display (5 to 6 inch)
4. Android 1.6 or better
5. $299 or less

Recipe for win.
]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
But then again, even a pile of poo combined with Ion would be the next big thing in the eyes of some Engadget commentors...]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Imagine an ARM Cortex-A8 with OLED and a laptop battery.]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 7:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
When you actually look at the facts, it's actually easier to consider what *can't* run on it, and:there's only one common line of OSes so x86-addicted that it can't run on ARM: Windows NT. Maybe we should consider the perpetuation of this as a problem with Windows 7, not with ARM?]]>Sep 16th 2009 7:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 9:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Either that or the fangs havn't popped out yet....]]>Sep 16th 2009 8:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
- It would cost $2 billion
- There are not enough ARM developers to work for them
- It will take 4 years

The only thing Microsoft can achieve by trying to port Windows 7 to ARM is hiring away the world's top ARM programmers so that they can't work on Android, OS X, Symbian, webOS and other competing OSes.
]]>Sep 16th 2009 8:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
They would need to make a HAL and device drivers.]]>Sep 16th 2009 8:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 9:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Windows currently runs on three different platforms (x86, x86-64, and Itanium), and, in the past, has run on Alpha, PowerPC, MIPS, and possibly Sparc (the Sparc port was done by a third party, but canceled before release; I don't know if it was completed). Even if we assume the non-Intel versions have been allowed to rot, the vast gaps between x86 and Itanium mean that their code *has* to be portable. Adding ARM really shouldn't be difficult.

As Angus says, they'd need a new Hardware Adaptation Layer, and new drivers--but ARM could make that almost trivial, by pushing a reference implementation that's built around a standard desktop bus, such as PCIe or USB, so that existing drivers would be easy to port.

And, of course, any port requires a compiler for the new target--but MS *has* an ARM compiler, which they use for Wince.

Really, the biggest problem would be marketing: making it clear to customers that their Windows/ARM netbook won't run all their Windows/x86 programs. Even that can be mitigated technically, though, with an emulator (as Apple has done with their two CPU transitions). Emulated apps would be slower than native ones, but it might be a nice tradeoff to get the battery life.]]>Sep 16th 2009 9:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
And it runs on ARM and PPC (obviously not binary compatible)]]>Sep 16th 2009 1:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Combine that with the fact that Intel's TDPs aren't power consumption, but heat emissions... (IIRC, a "2 W" Atom pulls 2.75 W peak, and that's what a Z530 is, the N270 is claimed at "2.5 W.")]]>Sep 16th 2009 8:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Plus, what's the power consumption for the Atoms? The N270 has an estimated 2.5W power requirement. ARM says the A9 requires 250 mW. That's about 10 times more for the Atom, not counting the chipset or the I/O controller.

Apples and Oranges, Engadget. Apples and Oranges.]]>Sep 16th 2009 8:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 8:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/it's fantastically weird.]]>Sep 16th 2009 2:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 9:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 10:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Web Surfing? Yes, there is a web browser and even a Flash port for ARM (unlike smartphones)
IM? Pidgin has already been ported supporting pretty much every main IM protocol.
E-mail? Yes, Claws mail, thunderbird and any number of clients.
Watch Movies? Yes, Canola2, and I believe VLC exists in ARM versions complete with most standard non-DRM codecs.
Listen to Music? Yes, and again most standard non-DRM'd codecs are supported.
Games? Yes, there are even some of them too, and even with full support for OpenGL accelerated graphics.
Word Processing? Yup, there's an app for that too. In fact there is a whole office suite called OpenOffice.org that you may have heard of.]]>Sep 16th 2009 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
A netbook based on this architecture would draw more power through its led based lcd than it would through its processor.

Even with half a laptop battery this thing could last for about 10 hours.]]>Sep 16th 2009 10:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
this post is legendary]]>Sep 16th 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
I must know the story behind it.]]>Sep 16th 2009 12:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/Sep 16th 2009 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/16/arms-cortex-a9-beats-atom-n270-too-bad-its-not-2008/
Of course, to be completely fair, this isn't a Cortex-A9-based SoC vs. Atom/945 or Atom/Ion, it's Cortex-A9-based SoC vs. Atom/Poulsbo, if you want to use present Atoms. Lower power consumption, but lower performance.]]>Sep 16th 2009 1:06PM