New Tablet PC is a bit...slow?

[Jason Dunn]

I was reading the July 2002 issue of Pen Computing magazine, and in the front section I noticed that they has a blurb about a major design win for Transmeta:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/1mhz.jpg" /><br /><br />Now I don't know about you, but even with that funky Transmeta "code morphing" technology on their CPU, I have to think that a 1 Mhz CPU would run XP a little on the slow side. What do you think?

[Jason Dunn]

:lol: Betcha' that post will confuse a lot of people who only get the front page on their Pocket PCs. :lol:

[GadgetGuy]

In fairness, shouldn't we wait for benchmarking scores before setting expectations for poor performance?

I am quite eager for the Tablet PCs to hit the market, still some months away (Nov. 7 is the announced release date) and real---not imagined---date should be available by then or shortly thereafter.

A parallel example: HIGH expectations for x-scale processors led to initial disappointment. The converse could be true in the case of this processor.

Or, of course, you could be bang on. :P

[Sslixtis]

I think that even at 1Ghz that Transmeta chip is gonna be SLOW. I'm waiting til next year to see how Intels first ground up mobil CPU performs. :D The Transmeta is a great idea but any real graphics totally defeat it :cry:

[Jason Dunn]

In fairness, shouldn't we wait for benchmarking scores before setting expectations for poor performance?

Uh... 8O Did you not get the joke? The magazine said 1 MHZ not 1 GHZ. :wink: Or are you combating my dry humour with your own dry humour, thus nullifying the whole thing? :lol:

[Sslixtis]

Hey GadgetGuy the Ad says 1MHZ get it? It's a typo :lol: Even the 8088 CPU could beat 1MHz, I think they meant 1Ghz :wink:

[Russ Smith]

Shades of the PCjr! I'm old enough to actually remember a 1.47MHz PC :)

[PPCRules]

Now I don't know about you, but even with that funky Transmeta "code morphing" technology on their CPU, I have to think that a 1 Mhz CPU would run XP a little on the slow side. What do you think?For some strange reason (probably nothing more than the Torvalds connection), there has been so much hype and (unjustified in my mind) ooo-ing and aah-ing over this Crusoe thing that they could probably sell a 1MHz version to people, and the computer press would rave on about it.

[Marc Zimmermann]

[...] I have to think that a 1 Mhz CPU would run XP a little on the slow side. What do you think?

XP Pro runs quite nicely on my PIII 550 with 256MB RAM.

[draiken]

Is the Code Morphing you reffer to the stuff on the CPU to make it run Intel Code?

Sorry for asking such a basic question...

[Sven Johannsen]

Shades of the PCjr! I'm old enough to actually remember a 1.47MHz PC :)

My Apple IIc ran at 1Mhz. Still does BTW.

[Jason Dunn]

For some strange reason (probably nothing more than the Torvalds connection), there has been so much hype and (unjustified in my mind) ooo-ing and aah-ing over this Crusoe thing that they could probably sell a 1MHz version to people, and the computer press would rave on about it.

I know EXACTLY what you mean. There's SO much hype about it. I remember all the cheesy press when it was first announced "DOUBLE THE BATTERY LIFE OF YOUR NOTEBOOK!!" Blah blah blah. All hype, no jump. I'll be interested to see how this works out in the Tablet PC though - every bit of battery saving helps, and the battery benchmarks on laptops with a P4 CPU vs. the P4M indicate that the CPU has a significant impact on battery life. But the difference between a P4M and Crusoe? We'll see...

[Jason Dunn]

XP Pro runs quite nicely on my PIII 550 with 256MB RAM.

Ok, but how would it run at 1 MHZ? That was the joke.... 8O

[Jason Dunn]

Is the Code Morphing you reffer to the stuff on the CPU to make it run Intel Code? Sorry for asking such a basic question...


Fear not Pocket PC Pupil. Ask or ask not, there is no try. Hehe. :wink:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-525936.html?legacy=zdnn

[entropy1980]

Hey I like the transmeta chips they don't benchmark well though in theory they are able to stop running functions not needed...for example if you are playing a DVD it only runs the code (which translates into procceses) thus only running the proccess necessary at one time equals better battery life, was it overhyped yes, does it provide better battery life though yes....decreased performance yes however,I think the trade off is worth it, as their MHZ increase the performace also becomes less of an issue.

[GadgetGuy]

:oops: It's a flaw of mine.

I still refer to my hard drive as having 40 Megs!

Guess that's cuz I remember the big moment when graduating from my IBM XT to a souped up AT with, are you ready, a kick-butt 10-MEGABYTE hard drive!

Man, that state-of-the-art high-tech gizmology was sump'n!

As my old friend Emily Latella would say:

Never mind!

[Janak Parekh]

Shades of the PCjr! I'm old enough to actually remember a 1.47MHz PC :)
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the PCjr, using the 8088, ran at 4.77MHz. What you really want to refer to is the C64, whose 6502 ran at precisely 1MHz. :)

--bdj

[JonnoB]

Can you imagine the size of the processor to effectively get enough MIPS out of a 1Mhz clock cycle?

[Kre]

Can you imagine the size of the processor to effectively get enough MIPS out of a 1Mhz clock cycle?

Yeah, like the size of a quilt. :lol:

[BugDude10]

Sure, 1MHz is impressive and all, but will Compaq *really* bust loose and ship with 48K of RAM...?

[klinux]

My jogging speed is about 1 Mhz. :lol:

[st63z]

I've always had a warm fuzzy feeling about the Crusoe, too, Jeremiah. Battery savings are real, and existing benchmarks admitedly shortchange its real-world capability.

BTW, I believe the P4-M is more power hungry than its PIII-M predecessor (which in turn is more power hungry than the Crusoe), unfortunately :(

[Rob Alexander]

There's SO much hype about it. I remember all the cheesy press when it was first announced "DOUBLE THE BATTERY LIFE OF YOUR NOTEBOOK!!" Blah blah blah. All hype, no jump. I'll be interested to see how this works out in the Tablet PC though - every bit of battery saving helps, and the battery benchmarks on laptops with a P4 CPU vs. the P4M indicate that the CPU has a significant impact on battery life. But the difference between a P4M and Crusoe? We'll see...

You don't have to wait to see. There've been Crusoe CPUs in several micro notebook products from companies like Fujitsu and Sony. (Though few or none are marketed in the US.) Just check out reviews and benchmarks for those devices to get an idea how the Crusoe is likely to perform relative to an Intel CPU. From memory, I believe the reviewers indicated the performance (this was for 650 mHz chips, I think) was slower than a low-end PIII, but that it was still quite acceptable. In return, you got something like 8 hours of battery life versus 2-3 with the PIII. I would imagine the 1 gHz version will share a similar relationship to the P4.

All in all, it sounded like a reasonable trade-off for someone who needed portability and long-life more than raw power. As with all things, it just depends on what you need to do with it.

[MaximumPDA]

Wow, tough croud. I thought it was funny.

[jeffmckean]

I betcha that if you really COULD run anything useful at 1MHz, then it would REALLY be a power-saving chip... :)

[glebd]

News just in: Transmeta lays off 40% of staff...

[Jonathon Watkins]

I was wondering what the fuss was about till I read about the 1Mhz as opposed to 1Ghz. We see what we expect to - eh? :?

[mckinleytabor]

All silliness aside... Is there some site where a person can see side-by-side comparisons between Transmetta, Intel, and AMD chips? I know that Transmetta run a bit slower than the comparable Intel, what I would like to see is just how much slower before I buy.

[farnold]

Hey GadgetGuy the Ad says 1MHZ get it? It's a typo :lol: Even the 8088 CPU could beat 1MHz, I think they meant 1Ghz :wink:

Good I didn't reply too early then :-)
Besides that - and before people call for stupid benchmarks again: did anyone ever compare the waiting time of the processor for a user to anything with the figure vis-versa? That should stop the benchmarks discussion for quite a while...