Swordfish Net 102 Dual: the first netbook with twin Atom CPUs
By Darren Murph 
posted September 30th 2009 9:06AM
posted September 30th 2009 9:06AM
[Via Wired]
posted September 30th 2009 9:06AM
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Well, that's one way around the Atom 330 nerfing that MS put in place...
Oops! I meant Intel.
To what nerfing are you referring? Sure, the Atom 330 does a fine job of being mostly useless due to the limitations of the slow FSB (or so I've heard), but I wouldn't call that nerfing.
Maybe he's referring to Intel forbidding it be put into netbooks? That seems like a pretty huge nerf to me...
I didn't realize Intel had forbidden it. I just thought that no one was doing it because moving from the 2.5W N270 to the 8W 330 doesn't make sense. Those extra watts would kill the battery-life, and would mess with the design of the netbook (you'd need larger heatsinks and bigger fans, driving up the weight and size). Besides, for all the negatives, the 330 gives you maybe a ~20% performance increase.
Nerf or not, it's just not worth putting a 330 in a netbook, especially now that CULV laptops can be had for under $600 and offer significantly better performance.
@Flandry
Correct.
lol, grammar police getting it wrong
/jk
Damn...Is the power worth the battery =\ ?
I fail to see the problem.. When the powers low, you just plug it into the socket on your leg, and let it charge off there for a while..
You do all have power outlets on your body.. don't you?
lol +1
Would it be all that difficult to make a system which disables one processor when on battery power? Power when you're plugged in, battery life when you're not.
Indeed, I have located what I presume to be the recharging socket, but for some strange reason it doesn't appear to have the standard three-pin adaption. Now, do I have to use some kind of special adaptor? because, no matter what do, the lead just keeps falling out.
- Kryten
STOP YA FOUL WHINING YA FILTHY PIECE OF DISTENDED RECTUM!
-Rimmer
Implying that any number of Atom processors can give you "power"
Wow, 1 hour battery.
This would not have been newsworthy if it had 3 Atom processors.
I'm not to up on the netbook processors and what's good and what's bad. But I really want to get one to make into a hackintosh.
What should I be looking for, or waiting for? Is there a time frame on when they hit?
Get a Dell Vostro A90. It's not the greatest netbook in the world (mostly because the keyboard layout sucks), but it's the easiest to install OS X onto.
Thanks Mike - I'll look into those. I was doing a bit of reading and it looks like Dell makes the most hackable ones... that and the Mini 9
the msi u100s another easy one to do it with, and in my opinion has a nicer keyboard
@Freak - The Mini 9 was discontinued a few months ago, but the hardware on the Vostro A90 is identical. The only real difference is the A90 is all black, as opposed to the black/silver Mini 9. It's a matter of preference, but I like the look of the A90 much better.
The A90 is identical to the discontinued mini9. It was on sale recently for $199. I just wish Dell would fix the keyboard on these. Typing on it is pretty horrible (mainly because of the size and placement of the right Shift key.) So far I think HP has the best keyboards layouts for the netbook form-factor, followed closely behind by Acer and Eee.
My comment disappeared, so I apologize if this is a dupe.
Anyway.. thanks again for all the info. This looks a lot more complicated with all the different options out there.
Anything on the horizon from a tech standpoint (processor, graphics, etc.) that I should be aware of before making the plunge?
I'm getting a kick out of the descriptions for their other products. "Isn't that neat?"
The most pointless thing I've ever seen. Also available are their solar powered torches, inflatable dartboards and helicopter ejector seats.
And yet, all of the things you just mentioned actually exist. Wierd.
Some helicopters *do* have ejection seats. (To keep from turning the crew into sushi the rotor disc is equipped with explosive bolts that detonate prior to ejection)
Chocolate teapot.
Rule #2 for Tech Consumers: Never buy a computer named after a fish.
Or a fruit... ;)
Or a part of the hand...
Always funny to see a computer made by a noname compagy. What is Swordfish Net?
Isn't that what John Travolta used to make millions of dollars and nail some hot movie stars?
No dual windows xp, no dual deal.
Sorry for the lack of knowledge on my part but I've never read up on the ATOM line much as the netbook craze never interested me, but does this line of processors support multiple processors out of the box or did they have to come up with their own chip set that handles the functions?
The design tradeoffs in Atom CPUs are not really solved by adding another core, out of order CPUs can juggle instructions sent to them between cores but in order CPUs like the Atom don'have much ability to filter the instructions they are sent, hence the rather slow performance.
I say death to the Atom long live the ULV.
why not 2 N280s?
how does this even improve performance.. the coding would be so complicated ... that it should just have a culv....
At least someone is breaking the mold?
true, but in a really stupid and ineffective way.
Its the first Dual CPU notebook/netbook I've heard of, so I give the company extra brownie cookies for breaking the mould. If anyone knows any other dual CPU notebook, please mention (links are helpful)
The funny thing is if you go to their website you can see their logo which includes an image of a faux iphone.
Their twitter feed (on the website) reads:
"Hi, We are Haleron Technologies Corp. (HTC)"
So you take the acronym of a very big mobile manufacturer and affix it to the image of one of the most popular phones today and you have all the market share you could dream of.
I'm sorry for going on a tangent here but the "dual bluetooth module" cracked me up and so I read about other products on their website and here is another interesting tidbit about their iphone clone:
The size of the screen is a little smaller than the iPhone, but that means it provides better displays and is not as distorted as the bigger ones. The screen is small because the touch pad has to fit on the phone. Are you a person that likes easy touch buttons? Well, for this phone the buttons are very easy for anyone to use, no matter what.
Genius.
-Babar
Is this even for real? The website is littered with misspellings and a lack of specs, not to mention the kirftastic copies of the iphone and e71. I kind of want to see one torn apart just to see what they've done here. I'm sure there's an extra atom processor somewhere... maybe it's just taped to the inside of the case waiting as a replacement for when the first one fails.
What motherboard can support dual atoms?
Baby Got Back? Bottom?
Just make sure you dont do this...
http://fmysex.com/view/Miscellaneous/170
Does it have dual GMA 950 graphics running in (some intel version of) Crossfire? No deal if it doesn't have the high tech graphics processing required to run Doom.
That's some nice Photoshop reflection there.
they have a nice line of KIRFs on the top line of their website. Combined with calling themselves Haleron Technology Company (HTC), should this not be changed to a KIRF tagged post?
Small-Form Factor + Dual 280s or something better + 4GB of RAM + Atom + 12-Cell + $550 or less = I WILL BUY.
whoops i meant ION, not "atom"