A Netbook-Plus-ATSC Product Inquiry, And Other "Value" x86 Processor-Related Thoughts

As a followup to my previous post, I’ll share with you another netbook-as-service-platform idea that I brainstormed with Xceive at CES. One particularly surprising (and notably robust) stream of feedback that I’ve gotten in response to my longstanding past ATSC coverage involves the current dearth of battery-operated digital television options. "What," respondents posit, for example, "am I to do once NTSC disappears if my residence loses power and I want to monitor weather reports or other public service announcements?" Admittedly, mobile ATSC (if and when it ever appears in the market) will address situations like these. But mobile is overkill for many users’ needs…they don’t want to watch television while walking down the street or in a moving vehicle, they just want to be able to easily tote around something that they can use to catch up on their soap operas at lunch (yes, Fran, I’m talking about you)…ideally without plugging it into a wall outlet first.

Every time I get such feedback, I’m surprised that the sender hasn’t already thought of using a laptop computer coupled with a USB-, PCMCIA- or ExpressCard-based tuner add-in module to address this supposed unmet need. Granted, in a sense it’s overkill…but it exists, and has done so for quite some time now. Sunday, I tested the concept by plugging a Pinnacle Systems PCTV HD mini Stick into my MSI Wind U100 and installing the companion TVCenter Pro software. Although I repeatedly received warning messages from TVCenter Pro suggesting that the netbook’s single-core 1.6 GHz Atom CPU might be underpowered for the program’s needs, the viewing experience was excellent even on high-bitrate high resolution ATSC material (and even without overclocking the MSI Wind), with no discerned frame drops or other artifacts (due in no small part to the 945GSE chipset’s integrated graphics’ support for MPEG-2 decoding).

Pretty darn impressive, considering that not too long ago, such an undertaking required hefty dedicated hardware assistance. I was even able to record content to the HDD (one advantage of ATSC versus the NTSC predecessor is that analog-to-digital conversions and lossy compressions aren’t required as part of this procedure) and play it back later. Admittedly (as Xceive pointed out to me), even if someone wanted to drop an ATSC tuner module into a PCI Express Mini internal slot, they’d probably still need to go with an external antenna (versus, say, one built into the netbook LCD bezel), especially in fringe reception areas. Nonetheless, and for whatever it’s worth…thoughts, readers?

Speaking of netbooks, I’ve got a few more x86 tidbits to share with y’all in wrapping up the online addendum coverage associated with my January 8^th issue cover story. As showcased in the hands-on project, version 1.09 of my MSI Wind U100’s BIOS enabled me to stably over-clock the single-core Atom N270 CPU from 1.6 GHz to 1.98 GHz. Apparently, though, the CPU design has even more over-clocking potential available (at least when supplemented by substantial external "chill" assistance); a liquid nitrogen-cooled U100 hit 2.315 GHz in recent testing. Granted, that’s no AMD Phenom II CPU speeding along at 6.5 GHz with the aid of a liquid nitrogen-plus-helium cocktail, but I daresay there’s a substantial price tag differential between the two processors, too. And recently developed micro-refrigerators suggest that the concept may become more mainstream in the future.

Speaking of the Atom N270, its successor (the imaginatively named N280) is reportedly on the way, with availability forecasted for a quarter or so from now. At first glance, you might be baffled at what the big deal is, judging from the 1.6 GHz-to-1.66 GHz core clock speed boost, and especially considering the rumoured $14-19 pricetag uptick (including companion chipset). Note, however, the 533-to-667 MHz frontside bus speedup delivered by the Atom N270-to-N280 transition, along with the generational chipset evolution from the bereft 945GSE to the (hopefully beefier) GN40. Befitting Intel’s continued attempts to segment netbooks versus notebooks in order to preserve revenues and profit margins in the latter, the N280 remains single-core in processor count and both feature- and speed-deficient compared to the company’s mainstream mobile CPUs. Want to build a slim notebook PC with a 13" or larger LCD? The company will be happy to sell you a CULV platform bag o’chips instead…although MSI apparently didn’t get that particular Intel memo…

As previous coverage has suggested (and follow-on benchmarks from a variety of publications and enthusiast sites have concurred with), Windows 7 seems as if it’ll be a winner both in general (versus Windows Vista) and in particular with resource-constrained systems that are today still running Windows XP. As such, note that new downloads of the O/S public beta will be unavailable beginning February 10^th, and in-progress downloads will terminate on February 12^th (though product keys for already-downloaded copies will continue to be available after that date).

Finally, I thought you might enjoy seeing the insides of the P3 International Kill A Watt power consumption monitoring device that I used both in my latest hands-on project and in several past ones. And here’s a way to put your Kill A Watt’s output online for remote monitoring purposes. Thanks to Make Magazine for the references!

Followup: Into digital photography? Here’s another reason to consider a (Dell Inspiron Mini 9, specifically) netbook. Take that, Apple!