Intel Atom Powered Tablets

[anon(5335877)]

probably since the Tegra 3 and especially a snapdragon s4 would both blow the atoms out of the water in the mobile gpu department. Which once again shows the major weakness intel has always had is their gpu department

And this time the GPU isn't even theirs. They used PowerVR's, but for some reason they used an old model. *shrugs*

 

[Ruined]

I will agree that the atom tablets run Windows 8 apps as well, or better, than the Surface RT, but as to games, no. We ran Hydro Thunder side by side with an RT and a Thinkpad T2 last night, and it's not really close. The RT was much smoother, and with much more consistent frame rates. We got similar results with Fruit Ninja and Riptide. The T2 seemed to run Riptide decently, and Fruit Ninja only had occasional stuttering, but it really bogged down on Hydro Thunder. The RT ran all with no problems.

This is great info. Most of the info I have read pegged the ATOM Z2760 as a similar or better performer even in the GPU department. This is bad news, for sure. How does cut the rope work on both?

It looks like the new Intel Z2580 Clover Trail+ may be a better solution. But no tablets have been announced for it yet.

 

[bawboh86]

With the new gaming/GPU info, I may just purchase a Surface RT, get the GIMP source code, and compile it for ARM, or something. I'd make due with something like Fhotoroom, but I'm afraid some tweaks I make to my shots can't be done (ie: rotating the image by a few degrees, not a full blown 90).

 

[Ruined]

The weird thing is that there is conflicting info on this. Like Paul Thurott on his blog compared Surface RT to a Z2760 machine and stated gaming performance (even hydro thunder) was similar on both.

 

[jmerrey]

Cut the rope performance is similar on both the RT and the T2 I compared. Angry birds, similar. The difference in hydro thunder didn't become apparent until about halfway thru the level. On the T2 it got slower and slower until about 3/4 of the way thru, it was like a slide show. Riptide wasn't quite as bad, but it was definitely slower. The only slow downs on Fruit Ninja on the T2 came when you swiped multiple objects.

In answer to the Paul Thurott question, how many firmware updates has the RT had since his blog comparison? At least 2. I know at least one of those specifically addressed performance issues.

All I can do is report my experience. The T2 does seem a small bit quicker in normal tasks, but gameplay seems to not be close in graphically intense games.

One thing: my T2 arrived with a faulty wifi module. It's being shipped back to Lenovo on Monday for repair. Is it possible that something else is defective? Certainly. I have already made a follow-up call on my case re: game performance, and it's something they will also look at during the repair process.

 

[jmerrey]

So, can the Surface with RT run Skulls of the Shogun and Robotek better than the Atom tablets?

I haven't found any games in the windows 8 store that the RT has problems with. Keep in mind, I got rid of my RT about 2 months ago, and I'm using my dad's for comparison. That is to say, I'm not playing very far into many games. I will say that when I had my RT, I played both Hydro Thunder and Riptide on many levels, with very few (if any) slowdowns.

 

[Ruined]

I should be receiving an Envy X2 in early March (assuming nothing with CT+ is announced with soon availability in MWC). Will let you know how it runs some of these games, though gaming for my usage of it will not be priority.

Also if Hydro Thunder starts out okay and becomes a slideshow over time, that implies to me a driver issue. Not that it will necessarily get fixed, but I'd think that is the case.