Multimedia performance: MP3, video, image handling
The results from iTunes, Adobe Media Encoder, Cinema 4D 10, Jalbum, Autopano Pro and Paint.NET show that netbooks are not great at handling video, sound and images. Although the VIA Nano delivers better overall performance than Intel's Atom, that's nothing to crow about as both are vastly slower than the dual-core Pentium E5200 desktop chip.
Windows Vista 32-bit: seconds (shorter bars are better)
Windows Vista 32-bit: longer bars are better.
Windows Vista 32-bit: seconds (shorter bars are better)
Power consumption
Next to performance, the issue that most preoccupies netbook manufacturers is power consumption. For power economy, Intel's Atom has a clear advantage. The 1.8GHz VIA Nano needs a hefty 20W more under full load than the Atom. Here, the Atom's 45nm feature size pays off. But VIA can compete in this area with its power-efficient 1.3GHz variant, which is used in Samsung's new NC20 netbook. Despite this chip's lower clock speed, it should still be able to beat the higher-clocked Atom in important benchmarks, such as the internet tests.
Windows Vista 32-bit: Watts (shorter bars are better)
Conclusion
Two clear facts emerge from our benchmarks of the Intel Atom and VIA Nano netbook processors. First, the Nano not only matches the Atom in many performance areas, it's significantly ahead in key tests. The Nano loads HTML, XML and JavaScript pages faster than the Atom. Second, when it comes to graphics, netbook users have to accept performance compromises. At about AU$120, the attractively priced dual-core Pentium E5200 is far faster than the netbook processors. In popular application areas — such as image handling — netbooks suffer from weak performance. Indeed, at times, the netbook chips performed so sluggishly that our testers felt as though they had slipped back to the IT Stone Age.
Translation by Toby Wolpe.
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To me it seems quite incorrect to classify the Atom 230 as one of the main netbook processors. Certainly the main netbook processor is currently the Atom N270, which is a rather different processor. For one, it does not support x86-64 instructions. It would be wise not to exptrapolate from the 230's results.