How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

According to this article, it might be right around the corner. Just in time for Step 5.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Well as ARM is just a design company it needs manufacturers to license it and build it. Until then it's a design ;)

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

I guess I would be more excited, but they're aiming for the single core Atom that came out in 2008...

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

i'd say its still a good year away

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Folks, please, less Engadget, more RTFA :)

800 MHz Osprey under full load: 0.25W/core, 0.5W total
2.0 GHz Osprey under full load: 1.9W total

So what they said is that they plan on doing a dual core ARM that is TWO AND A HALF TIMES FASTER THAN N270 while still using less power, or, for handhelds, something AS FAST AS THE N270 BUT AT <20% OF THE ATOM'S POWER REQUIREMENTS.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Attila77 I wish I could make that Thanks bigger and bolder...

In other words, :eek:!!!

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

and here i was thinking the rollercoaster had stared to slow down.

i seem to be developing a serious ARM fetish :D

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

The first multicore ARM is gonna make a lotta geeks walk funny. :D

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Engineering samples should be coming in volume in the first half of 2010. Probably wont see a consumer device until late 2010 or 2011.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Sigh.

Less fanboy, more up to date comparisons.

N270/ was announced and obtainable in 2008. Let's talk about the Atom 3/Pineville. Compare to that instead.

Seriously, I'm happy ARM is doing something worthwhile. But as it stands, you're talking about 1.9W - let's see the standard 1500mAh battery keep that running for a nice period of time.

And for the record, I don't like Intel Atom.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

If we're doing valid comparisons, then let's do valid comparisons. :rolleyes:

A 2.0GHz Cortex A9 isn't intended for use in a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet and nor is the N270. Both of these designs are intended for netbooks or larger-sized tablets which have much larger batteries than 1500mAh.

Pineview may be barely under the power requirements for a mobile device, but overall battery life is still going to be terrible since Atoms aren't remotely close to being able to idle like ARM SoCs. ARM is still kicking Intel's *** in the mobile space and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Yawn. Seriously dude. What OS would use it? Linux? Moblin? Maemo?

All are scalable to from medium to smaller devices, not bigger devices like a desktop... a Netbook perhaps? OS X and Win7 won't run on ARM right now.

So pray tell... what should we compare it to while here at TMO, oh wise one? Huh?

Exactly.

Fanaticism aside, I agree with this statement.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

That is *exactly* the point. Imagine that suddenly a range of netbooks appear, that have significantly better battery life, are faster AND cheaper than ones running Windows. With these there are no return rate manipulation, no 'is better with windows', no nothing. Microsoft should be really scared if ARM's initiative takes off as this is a segment it cannot compete in (none of the drastic measures they used to fight their way back to netbook space is available with an ARM in the arena - except for bribery and blackmail :) ). This in turn might provide an additional impetus for further developing/improving Linux and other alternative OSes for end users.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

I would get excited... but since MIDS, UMPC's have given way to the netbook or smartphone, my expectations is that things aren't dependent on the chip nor OS fanaticism.

To be realistic, something blockbuster OS and software-wise is required to gather interest. And niche markets do not blossom unless they're shifted upstream from niche to something else.

Case in point... Maemo from NIT to smartphone.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Oh, have they? Be prepared for a "mobile computer" explosion over the next 5 years. We're going to start to see laptops being replaced by these devices en-masse.

Shortsighted.

Yeah, no, the N900 is certainly not a smartphone.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Which is it?

You're quick to overlook the Samsung that's coming in 2011 [ view here ]. So 5 years would be well within your timeline.

So which is it? "Mobile computers" in 5 years, or impatience for stuff like the Samsung by this very same board?

Pot. Kettle.

Smartphone, mobile computer mated with a phone. Semantics.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

OK, troll, you win. :rolleyes:

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Reported.

Seriously dude. You're always quick to go personal when I'm just discussing with a different viewpoint than yours.

And you represent this forum as a moderator? Learn how to be civil.

I'll follow up with other reports of your past posts. Especially when all I'm doing is opposing your point of view and I have to expect that you'll label me - or others - as a troll?

Thanks for encouraging discussion.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

In continuation - I guess my confusion is how this site was really against Android on netbook sized devices. Almost like it didn't make sense.

But do you really think that Maemo would scale up to a netbook sized device and be compelling enough to get people away from other OS netbooks based on... price alone?

I have to state that despite having a killer CPU, software needs to be there too. And software that is full function, not partially. For instance... I love RTComm, but I don't like the fact that it doesn't do video yet.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

We're still not hearing each other. If there will be a Maemo device with the Osprey, it will be the 0.5W handheld one that is on par in raw power with current netbooks (!)

For netbooks (whatever alternative OS they run, whether it's Android, Ubuntu remix, ChromeOS, a variant of Maemo, etc) - pinetrail is certainly not going to instantly triple Atom performance, so if the ARM benchmarks and power figures are correct, pinetrail loses out in ALL aspects - price, performance and battery life. Thus your windows netbooks will have more expensive hardware, lower performance, worse battery life and the extra burden of a windows license cost. Just might be enough to make Joe Average think that maybe, just maybe, this time it's worth going the other way.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Is the difference really in the CPU itself (ie, does a halted Atom still draw significant amounts of power) or in the PC architecture baggage that Atom has to drag along for Windows compatibility?

There's CE, or whatever they call it these days (not that it was ever a serious competitor to anything), and they could always add a "mainstream" Windows ARM port (like they used to support AXP, PPC & MIPS and back in the NT days).

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

A combination of both. The Atom will be in a hard position to fight the price and power while the ARM requires less than half the silicon of the Atom.

Mainstream windows port ? You mean, you go into the shop, but a netbook, take it home, try to install your favorite app from the desktop and suddenly realize... None of your 150 million windows apps work on ARM.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

I'm all for an increase in CPU speed in mobile devices. Better graphics processing, better performance and less loading times due to limited CPU speed & cycles dedicated to system processes.

But, then again, I'm the type that wants more speed since I already know the apps I use are good and will see more in the future, I don't really care for anything else outside of that. Call me stupid, call me ignorant, call me whatever you want, but my point is clear. All I, as the consumer, want is what I want and "I'll take the CPU for $1000 Alex!"

Jesse~

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

NT kernel has ports to MIPS, Alpha, PowerPC and IA64.
Using Microsoft resources it should be a matter of months to have a fully working NT on ARM architecture. Especially with a lot of WinAPI already present on WinCE platform.

Having a core not tied to Intel was the main reason Microsoft bought NT. :)

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

However, there is now a lot more platform inertia.

Re: How far away is an Atom-killing Cortex-A9?
 

Just waiting for ARM Cortex-A10
armdevices.net/2010/08/10/texas-instruments-licences-arm-eagle-series/

The ONLY advantage of Atom processors are x86 support