VIA Nano CPU helps Lenovo IdeaPad S12 to handle HD video better

By: Raghav Kapoor

VIA Nano CPU scores over Intel Atom N270 in terms of HD video

Lenovo IdeaPad S12

 The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is currently available with the choice of an Intel Atom processor or a VIA Nano CPU. Lenovo is also planning to release a version of the IdeaPad S12 which will be based on the Nvidia Ion platform that clubs an Intel Atom processor with an Nvidia graphics. Apart from the difference in processor types both the IdeaPad S12 models have 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, a 12.1-inch 1,280x800 resolution display, 6-cell Li-ion battery, and Windows XP operating system.

As per independent reviews conducted by Liliputing and CrunchGear, the IdeaPad S12 with VIA Nano CPU is able to handle HD video in a better way than the model powered by the Intel Atom processor. The Intel Atom version of the S12 does not perform well with 720p video playback, which looks choppy, as is some Flash video content from sites like Hulu when played in full screen mode. On the other hand, standard definition video looks fantastic.

When it comes to the IdeaPad S12 powered by the VIA Nano CPU the above seems to change. Although the Nano CPU is clocked at 1.3GHz and Intel Atom N270 clocks at 1.6GHz, the former has a faster 800MHz FSB (front side bus) as compared to the later which has a 533MHz FSB. Moreover, the Nano CPU has 1MB of L2 Cache memory while the Intel Atom N270 has only 512Kb of L2 cache. Talking about the HD performance, low quality content from Hulu worked fine with this machine but high quality Hulu content still stuttered. The machine was able to play the following video formats in full-screen mode of Windows Media player:

·         720p WMV

·         720p DivX

·         720p XviD

·         720p QuickTime (played in Windows Media player using K-Lite Codec pack)

·         720p MP4 (footage from HD Flip Mino Ultra)

·         480p MP4 (footage from Samsung Camcorder)

·         480p XviD

This shows that the VIA Nano CPU is more capable than the Intel Atom N270 CPU when it comes to HD video handling on the IdeaPad S12. Moreover, the VIA Nano powered S12 comes at a price which is $70 lesser than the Intel Atom powered machine. Since, every coin has a flip side, the flip side here is in terms of battery life, the VIA Nano CPU is not as power efficient as the Intel Atom processor.