Intel Atom Z560 vs Intel Atom 230 vs Intel Atom Z530

Intel Atom Z560

The Intel Atom Z560 is a relatively high clocked Atom processor of the power efficient Z-series. It is specified at a much lower TDP than the similar N-series and offers hardware virtualization (VT-x). Due to the in-order execution, the performance per clock-rate is not as good as Celeron or Core 2 Duo processors. The missing Intel 64 Instructions wont allow a user to install a 64 Bit operating system on the Z550.

Intel Atom 230

The Intel Atom 230 is a small and cheap CPU for small desktops (Nettops). It is similar to the Atom N270, but lacks Speedstep and features a higher TDP.

Due to the "in-order" Architecture of the Atom series, the 230 is slower than similar clocked Core 2 Duo processors and only suited for low demanding tasks. The Atom 230 support Hyperthreading.

Intel Atom Z530

The Intel Atom Z530 is a power saving netbook / MID single-core processor. Compared to the Atom N270, the Z530 supports Virtualization in hardware and got the Idle States and Demand Based Switching functions.

The Atom core was designed for a low power consumption and cheap production. The downside is the relative low performance per Watt (due to the in-order execution) compared to similar clocked Celeron processors, e.g.. Still the integrated Hyper-Threading (the operating system sees the CPU as a dual core CPU) decreases the penalty of the in-order execution a bit.

The performance of the Z530 is only compareable to a 1.2 GHz clocked Celeron M and therfore only sufficient for non demanding applications like Office or web surfing. HD videos, advanced photo editing, video cutting may not run fluently.