The moment of truth has arrived, as everyone is curios to know which low power CPU for netbooks is actually a saver. Is it Intel’s Atom N550, a dual core processor which is about to go slightly out of service because of the future N570, or is the Ontario C-50, one of the new AMD Fusion APU, ticking in at only 1 GHZ, but with the label of being the better of the bunch when it comes to saving energy.
Netbooknews.com comes with a highly detailed power consumption comparison of the two and this is what they figured out. First, in idle mode, the Atom N550 ticks in at 4.9 W, while Ontario gets a slightly better score of 4.5W. AMD’s chip is better also at web browsing, as a Google, email and Facebook session of 5 minutes came with a 6W discharge from Ontario, while N550 spared nothing under 6.5 W. Youtube standard definition is next on the agenda, and the N550 handled itself a little better than in previous sections.
Intel’s CPU kept it steady at 6W, while Ontario took in no less than 8. The same happened with HD playback, both 720p and 1080p draining the battery at the same rates, and Atom seems to be better at saving power when playing any type of video. This is confirmed also by the video editing test. A video with a couple of transitions, music overlay and a graphic intro took 12.5W on the Ontario C-50, and only 10W from Atom.
Also, the export time for the wmv video was better on Intel’s platform, as it took with 6 minutes less than on Ontario.
Web surfing chart for Ontario C-50
Finally, gaming is more in AMD’s court. Although it took in an average of 10W, Ontario produced 50 to 60 frames per second, while the Atom N550 came up with a maximum of 7 fps and 9W. Overall, the Ontario C-50 will drain the battery faster than the N550, but it will offer superior graphic performance, especially at gaming bits.
You guys are so biased toward prefering intel you forget that C-50 is a Cpu Gpu combined and its power usage should be compared to power usage of cpu and gpu combined in a comparable intel platform like ION platform. In this case c-50 will be on par with ion platform graphicwise but it crushes the ion platform both in power consumption and price. It is not that you dont get this point its just being purely biased toward intel i guess!
I can’t say why you consider us biased. The tests in the source link for this post speak for themselves on the performances and power needs of both these platforms. We’re just intepreting the results, nothing more… If you’ll read the site you’ll see I’m not an Intel nor an AMD fan. I am a supporter of the best sollution for the end user (like you and me and the other readers) though, regardless of producer or manufacturer
I read your source carefully and it has the problem i mentioned. C-50 is a CPU GPU combination so its power usage should be compared to Atom CPU plus NVIDIA graphic chip of ION platform combind not just Atom CPU! Its so easy!