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AMD Fusion: Ontario-Zacate, Netbooks reloaded (RIP ATOM)

Rolf NB said:
People keep saying this every year, since the dawn of time. And whenever I thought it'd be alright to check again, it was still the same garbage. Fool me twice, and all that.

You couldn't even clear buffers on fglrx circa 2007 without running into bugs. Having separate codebases for *nix and Windows GL drivers is utter insanity to begin with. It makes no technical sense. It's as if they've been doing this shit on purpose.
Yeah, sure. But even if the IGP is deactivated, it still cost money, so manufacturers will (have to) charge a premium for it. It may even still draw power, depending on how it's set up internally.
Click to expand...

Ubuntu doesn't run on AMD?
 
clashfan said:
Ubuntu doesn't run on AMD?
Click to expand...
It does, AFAIK it's "only" that their graphics drivers aren't up to par yet. It does work though, well at least for my current notebook, but I haven't really done any really heavy stuff on it.

todog said:
Will Starcraft 2 multiplayer run fine (lowest settings of course) on that Zacate Thinkpad?
Click to expand...
When Anandtech previewed a non-final version of the E350 it worked, but since SC2 is more CPU bound it depends on what you'd call "fine." Then again, this was only a preview, I'd expect that SC2 will be among the benchmarks for these final systems when they arrive.

34116.png
 
Hi Gaf,

Guess what just happened?

My Notebook GPU finally died and all I see is green shit all of my screen! I guess this is a sign that I need one of these cheap netbooks now. Also, FUCK Nvidia and their defective 8600m GS. I don't have th extra money to buy a notebook right now so shit is going to difficult for me =/
 
Engadget reviewed the HP Pavilion dm1z with AMD's E350 and it scored really great.
Wrap-up

Is this really happening? After years of waiting has AMD finally done it? Provided a netbook / ultraportable platform that melds really solid performance and graphics with solid battery life? Something that can kick Intel's Atom to the curb, but doesn't require a recharge every two and a half hours? The Pavilion dm1z certainly has all signs pointing to yes – the 11.6-inch system runs for over five hours on a charge while providing full HD playback and great multitasking prowess. Of course, the rest of the market hasn't sat still for systems like the Fusion-powered dm1z, and there are plenty of other good affordable ultraportables out there -- including the $550 Intel ULV-powered ThinkPad Edge 11 and $500 Ion 2-powered ASUS Eee PC 1215N -- but at $450 the dm1z provides the best balance of performance, graphics, and battery life for the price, and to that end, AMD can finally pat itself on the back... even if it did take five years to get here.

8/10

The Good
Great blend of performance and graphics
Over five hours of battery life
Impressive speakers for the size

The Bad
ClickPad can still be frustrating
Lots of preloaded software
Fan noise can get loud
Click to expand...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/hp-pavilion-dm1z-with-amd-fusion-review/
 
I think it's best to wait and see what Asus, Dell, and other companies are bringing. MSI's ones for example is going to have a seperate left and right click button and 1 usb 3.0 port.
 
Acer 5253 (15" Zacate) now available on microcenter

* AMD E-350
* 2GB DDR3-RAM
* 250GB 5,400RPM Hard Drive
* 15.6" HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display
* 8x SuperMulti Double Layer DVD±RW Drive
* 2-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
* ATI Radeon HD 6310
* 10/100/1000 Network
* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™
* Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
* Black
Click to expand...

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354446

$379
 
peakish said:
Llano isn't a netbook core, it's in their middle class range I think.
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Oh, my bad :lol

I think I might sell my monster Dell Studio 1557 for that thinkpad. It seems a lot more efficient than this thing which gets 3 hours of battery on a 9-cell, and I probably wont notice much a performance hit since most of my computing is graphic intensive.

Does GAF recommend I wait for the next generation of Fusion netbooks? Is UEFI going to be implemented with fusion anytime soon, or should I take the plunge?
 
Ryoma-Echizen said:
The next 28nm comes in Q4. If you need the power and gaming capabilities waiting for them is an option.

1-4 core flavors, higher frequencies.
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Well, power and gaming capabilities aren't my priority after lugging a mobile i7 10 pounder around, haha.

To put it simply, If I'm more concerned about power consumption and heat output than a tri or quad core, will I be better waiting on fusion improvements or lower end sandy bridge models being announced? I'm not a big hardware buff, so I apologize if these questions are ignominious!
 
I haven't had a really useful notebook computer for a few years - been toting around an aging and nearly useless G4 iBook.

I'm really eyeing the Lenovo x120e, though, that thing looks really cool - particularly with an SSD, though it would probably be more cost effective to add that myself than to get the Lenovo equipped one.
 
Ryoma-Echizen said:
The this 1st Fusion are a great choice, the DM1z is polar bear friendly.
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Thanks for all your info and time! I think I should go for the Thinkpad. Only thing holding me back might be a bigger screen, but with the money I save with fusion I could just buy a monitor. ...Although that one Anandtech article about Sandy Bridge Mobile still has me doubting with the 8 hour battery life on the quad mobile...
 
teiresias said:
I haven't had a really useful notebook computer for a few years - been toting around an aging and nearly useless G4 iBook.

I'm really eyeing the Lenovo x120e, though, that thing looks really cool - particularly with an SSD, though it would probably be more cost effective to add that myself than to get the Lenovo equipped one.
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Cost effective and probably with more performance. For example a Corsair Force 60-120GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...49&cm_re=corsair_force-_-20-233-149-_-Product
 
brotkasten said:
Acer Aspire or a Thinkpad? Hmmm...

Ehm, what?! Get the Thinkpad!
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Yeah it does look like the better product, but I was contemplating the Acer because of the price, Isn't the Thinkpad going to be ~$75 or so more? I believe the Acer is going to be available sooner too, and I need one for school asap.

Anyways, how are Thinkpads when it comes to sound? Are their fans really loud? That is one thing I HATE about my current laptop. What about their speaker quality?
 
Christ... I was thinking of saving up for a Macbook Air, but with these netbooks at these prices... if I can get Linux running on them fairly easily, I'm in.
 
I don't know whether to get this instead or not...

For $500: ASUS UL30Vt-X1K 13.3" Notebook C2D 1.3GHz/4GB/500GB/Nvidia G210M/Bluetooth/3.74 Pounds/11 Hours

http://www.jr.com/asus/pe/ASU_UL30V...are&SiteID=lw9MynSeamY-AJq7eFAEQFz8OG4eFbOPcQ

Has great battery life. The only thing it has over one of the AMD fusion notebooks for me is that it's a little bit bigger and heavier.

Gaming performance is a little better, battery life is better, and the processor is batter. You would be paying a $50-100 more I believe
 
Battery life can be "better" as long as you don't use anything that relies in gpu and you settle with their obsolete IGP (intel IGP).

Want to accelerate flash/youtube/h264/windows aero? You'll use the gpu and battery will be far worse than the DM1z. Win7 is a horrible experiencie with an intel igp prior to the i3/i5. So you'll end up using the dedicated GPU more than you think. And the HD6350 is not that slower than the G210. If a game struggles it will in both of them.

Also way higher temps due to the G210.
 
Until Q4 2011/Q1 2012 28nm low power Fusion refresh, yes. I have hopes for a higher frequency Zacate later, 2Ghz~.


Trent Strong
The shipped(to OEM's, mobo partners) 1.4M Ontario/Zacate chips up to now.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...61-hp-pavilion-dm1z-review-discussion-13.html
Just a quick update I thought I'd share.

I spoke to HP today and was told that there are no more delays and that orders due to be shipped 1/21 and prior should be receiving a FedEX shipping e-mail by tomorrow morning (Sunday 1/23).

So, for whatever that's worth...
Click to expand...
 
Ryoma-Echizen said:
Battery life can be "better" as long as you don't use anything that relies in gpu and you settle with their obsolete IGP (intel IGP).

Want to accelerate flash/youtube/h264/windows aero? You'll use the gpu and battery will be far worse than the DM1z. Win7 is a horrible experiencie with an intel igp prior to the i3/i5. So you'll end up using the dedicated GPU more than you think. And the HD6350 is not that slower than the G210. If a game struggles it will in both of them.

Also way higher temps due to the G210.
Click to expand...

The G210 was getting scores of 3400 in 3dmark 06 while the HD6350 was getting about 2200 I thought.

Also, is windows 7 really that bad to use with the GPU off?

Lastly, I've read that this model runs pretty cool anyways and doesn't get hot anyways.

Anyways, thanks for making my decision even harder, lol. Insight from anyone else would be great as I need to decide whether it's best to go with an amd zacate 11.6 notebook or hop on this deal.

I'm looking for something very small and light, that has very good battery life, 6 hou +, nice looking aesthetics, can do light gaming (including starcraft ii on low, playable), and has a good keyboard. I also listen to a lot of music so the sound quality will be important for me.
 
Was planning to get the Asus 1215n (here in Spain is like 500€), but with this new chip I'm not sure if I should wait for some fusion netbooks.

Is it really cheaper and with better perfomance than Asus1215n (Nvidia ION2)?
 
EVH said:
Was planning to get the Asus 1215n (here in Spain is like 500€), but with this new chip I'm not sure if I should wait for some fusion netbooks.

Is it really cheaper and with better perfomance than Asus1215n (Nvidia ION2)?
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Yes. Waiting for ASUS to come out with the Asus 1215b with will have the E-350 in it. They better release it next month because it's going to be very hard to wait longer than that.
 
clashfan said:
Ubuntu doesn't run on AMD?
Click to expand...
Incredibly late, but anyway:
Of course it will run the desktop. Accelerated video and OpenGL is where the issues start. OpenGL graphics may not be an everyday thing for most, but video acceleration is particularly important on these barely-fast-enough low-power CPUs. Youtube is still a thing, and if you can't do that in fullscreen smoothly, it kind of sucks.
 
This looks like an awesome solution.

I have a rooted nook color, an intel CULV based 11.6 and a 15.4"....with out a doubt the best overall solution for various portable needs is the CULV (a 1810Tz).

This size, performance, and battery life is just a great combo - AMD fusion ups this ante while dropping the price almost $200.
 
Anandtech has published a pretty complete review of the E-350 platform.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx

They mostly like it and it looks pretty good for cheap notebooks. But I'm not sure it's precisely what I'm after in a HTPC just yet, I'd like a bit more CPU speed to make it real snappy. Luckily I'm not building one for about a year and the successors should be available then. It's a very interesting platform.
 
Well, I finally got that HP Pavillion a couple of days ago, and I have to say I'm disappointed in it. It struggles to play Hulu in fullscreen and the fps sometimes dip down to the low teens. It can play HD videos from youtube just fine, but I tried to play some HD video on iTunes and it froze, and stuttered a lot, and was usually getting fps in the teens. The Ion 2 seems to be better at high-def video. It stays fairly cool if you adjust the settings to cool mode, but the fans are very loud. It also has by far and away the worst trackpad I've ever used in my life. I"m gonna try to return it.
 
Trent Strong said:
Well, I finally got that HP Pavillion a couple of days ago, and I have to say I'm disappointed in it. It struggles to play Hulu in fullscreen and the fps sometimes dip down to the low teens. It can play HD videos from youtube just fine, but I tried to play some HD video on iTunes and it froze, and stuttered a lot, and was usually getting fps in the teens. The Ion 2 seems to be better at high-def video. It stays fairly cool if you adjust the settings to cool mode, but the fans are very loud. It also has by far and away the worst trackpad I've ever used in my life. I"m gonna try to return it.
Click to expand...
Could be a driver issue, because HD video on a netbook is a no-go unless you have GPU acceleration.
 
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