Comments on: Intel ships first dual-core Atom processor

Intel has begun shipments of the first dual-core version of the Atom processor.

[taber93]

Nice, this would work great for the linux server I've been wanting to put together and actually draw less power and be more powerful than my 3 year old laptop.

[mmntech]

Dual core Atoms should solve many complaints about the single core model's processing power, or lack there of. Namely multitasking and media playback. Of course that's assuming we see more everyday software that can take advantage of multiple cores. I don't see why it couldn't be used for netbooks.

[The1egend]

When you multitask you're already taking advantage of two cores. It's dependent on the OS, so when you use XP, your processor load is balanced across the two cores if you are using two or more programs. If the program itself is programmed to be multithreaded, then there can be an additional speed increase. Media playback is really more of an IGP and chipset problem, which won't be solved until the get a newer chipset out than the horrible 945GC. Why it can't or shouldn't be used for netbooks is beyond me. Probably because Intel thinks netbooks are supposed to have extremely long battery lives, and this would hinder that to some degree.