Yes the Vaio P70 has a Dual Core CPU (Hyper Threading), and Yes It Sucks with Windows 7 Score!

Published on January 21st,2009 at 9:51 AM
By >Daimaou - G.G-B

Yes the Vaio P70 has a Dual Core CPU (Hyper Threading), and Yes It Sucks with Windows 7 Score!

Category: Pc - Tags: -Review, Atom, Cpu, Gma500, Hdd, Intel, P70, P90, Sony, Ssd, Vaio

Last Monday we published our review of Sony’s Vaio P70, a luxury Netbook powered by an ATOM Z520 CPU at 1.33GHz, 2GB of RAM, a 4200rpm 1.8” HDD and an Intel GMA500 video card…

From yesterday we’ve received many emails and comments stating our review was flawed and our unit wasn’t running correctly. We’re human and we make mistakes, but this time we DIDN’T!

YES the ATOM Z520 on the P is Dual Core (hyper threading)… Please check for yourself here below, but unless Vista is completely mistaken it clearly shows two CPUs.

NO our unit was not faulty, the P70 we have has a 2.7 Score on Vista but a 1.9 on Windows 7…

Bottom line… If you want to get the best of your P… there are two solutions:

1) Get the stock version and install XP (we did it and it works better than 7 or Vista).
2) Get the 1.86Ghz and 128GB SSD.

Better photos in the gallery below.

Via Akihabara News, Vaio P70 Review

18 Comments

Category Pc

Yes the Vaio P70 has a Dual Core CPU (Hyper Threading), and Yes It Sucks with Windows 7 Score!

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bakavirus

If I may offer some words..
The z520 processor IS indeed a single core.
Vista is reading the hyper threading as an extra core.

Also, benchmarks do not usually reflect real world use. Please provide more thoughtful impressions before being so quick to condemn.
Eg. Impressions of responsiveness in windows 7 and Xp using day to day applications.

Sincere regards,
Bakavirus
http://m-del.net Badeu

The Atom Z520 is not dual core but hyper-threaded, it’s detected as two distinct CPU by the operating system but it’s only a trick as old Pentium 4 was.
timothy

^I’m pretty sure Badeu is correct. Performance monitor only thinks it is dual core, but just like P4 it is not. I could be wrong. I don’t think Vaio P could run a dual core since it is passively cooled, with no CPU fan.
DrEvil

Sad that its only hyperthreading and that the performance sucks so much

I handled one in Yodobashi Camera yesterday and it was so light and nice to hold. What a pity! Maybe only WinCE will run ok on it?

(or Linux!!)
gs

did the 1.9 on windows 7 happen to be caused by a low Disk Data Transfer Rate? if so its a common issue on W7 and can be solved by disabling write caching on the drive
http://www.akihabaranews.com Daimaou

The 1.9 was caused by the HDD and the CPU which both had a 1.9 Mark
Neil

ouch !!!!
You just made a dummy of yourself

IT IS NOT DUAL CORE

check with INTEL if you dont believe us.

Hyperthreading may give 2% performance improvement – where as a real Dual Core Atom would give a 50%+ improvement.

Your readers deserve an appology…..
Neil

However

I do agree with your test results as it performs at the correct level for an Atom 1.3 running Vista with a 4200RPM hard disk drive.
Big mistake Sony – needed XP
kanjikai

Again, this “review” does not give the reader and idea about real daily performance.

Fortunately, some good thech sites know how to test a computer.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4795
http://what-is-what.com/what_is/dual_core_processor.html dual_core

Who would put Window 7 on a Vaio anyway? Sony is a crap company that cares nothing for it’s customers. Of course they give us crap.
Virtua

I think Windows 7 should be completely discounted on the basis that it is BETA and nowhere near finished. Not far to MS or Sony.

There is a 1.6ghz atom available which will run Vista ok. The 1.8ghz chip is priced at a premium compared to the other chips too

And for the SSD – there is a 64gb version.

SSD is expensive – but this SSD is fast and with a first in the sense of 128gb being available.

Sony isusually more expensive than other brands – but opting for 1.6ghz and 64gb ssd will give the speed at a more affordabe price.
http://m-del.net Badeu

I’m sorry to insist but you can’t say “Dual Core CPU (Hyper Threading)”, cause it’s not an hyper-Threaded Dual Core CPU.

I will try to explain this with my poor english :

Let’s imagine a simple CPU with one ALU and one FPU, in an hyper threading CPU, when an instruction uses the ALU, the FPU is free so the CPU will execute another instruction that only need the FPU if one is available, not dependant from the first instruction computed at the same time and will not impair with his computing.

Because it’s not common, it explains why Hyper-Threading improves performance by 2%.

In an OS view, you are able to execute two instructions in the same time when it’s possible, so it detects the CPU as two distinct CPU which it is not.

In a simple dual core CPU, you have two units of each (two ALU, two FPU, etc.), twice the amount of registers, so you can really load and execute two contexts at the same time, and it explains why a real dual core can reach a theorical improvement by 100%.
disgrunteldreader

I think your readers deserve an apology..
Whereistheapology

It cant take that long to confirm that it is a single core CPU
Please apologise and correct your article ASAP as it is very misleading.
Keepthetrollinacage

Checking that the Atom Z520 is indeed single core should take only a couple of minutes.

Why would you persists in your error? This put a bad light on all your other reviews.

Also :
“The ATOM CPU sucks big time unless properly integrated like on the Ion platform (NVidia), and how dumb are Intel folks for not providing a similar experience, if NVidia did it how hard can it be”

How can you say that when the ion platform have not been released so far to any devices?

IMO this all look like some fanboy trolling in some bad forum.
CurryToa

just a slight mistake, nothing serious
why so serious?
anyways…the main point is that the P does not match the price tag base on its performance. Its not intel, sony, or any manufacturers’ fault except the people who buy the P just for its looks, unless they are rich and have money to blow on luxurious items.
Chainb

It is not just a slight mistake, the whole article is filled with misinformation, it does not lend well to the credibility of this site.
It is also insulting to many of the regular readers as it leads us to believe the author is too ignorant to consider his readers. This mistake should be fixed and an apology would be nice…
Yuri

Daimaou, could you share screenshots showing Windows 7 ratings on P70? Those four you’ve posted above are all from Vista Home Basic and don’t include detailed scores.

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