Samsung's A15 Chromebook Loaded With Ubuntu Is Crazy Fast

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Samsung's A15 Chromebook Loaded With Ubuntu Is Crazy Fast

Google recently launched the Samsung Chromebook that for $249 USD features an 11-inch display, a 16GB SSD, a promise of 6.5-hour battery life, and is backed by a Samsung Exynos 5 SoC. The Samsung Exynos 5 packs a 1.7GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 processor with ARM Mali-T604 graphics. With using this new ARM Cortex-A15 chip plus the Samsung Chromebook not being locked down so it can be loaded up with a Linux distribution like Ubuntu or openSUSE, it was a must-buy for carrying out some interesting Cortex-A15 Linux benchmarks. The Exynos 5 Dual in this affordable laptop packs an impressive performance punch.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=18159

[d2kx]

Meanwhile, Windows RT (Windows for ARM) is utter shit. This is a huge potential for Ubuntu going forward to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

[Nille]

An Test against an small i3 or A4 would be awesome. And maybe against an E-450

EDIT: That include an Graphic Benchmark

[Kivada]

So how long till we see something with the Mali-T658 and a 2.5Ghz quad Cortex A-15 and a 2880x1600 screen?

I will pay the price of admission for such a beast in a heartbeat!

The Mali-T658 is supposed to have slightly better then a PS3 GPU and with a fast quad behind it would allow for much fun to be had, especially if we get OpenCL going since the GPU supports it.

[Kivada]

An Test against an small i3 or A4 would be awesome. And maybe against an E-450

EDIT: That include an Graphic Benchmark

The E-450 is going to be phased out for the E2-2000 http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bobcat...20E2-2000.html

[d2kx]

So how long till we see something with the Mali-T658 and a 2.5Ghz quad Cortex A-15 and a 2880x1600 screen?

I will pay the price of admission for such a beast in a heartbeat!

The Mali-T658 is supposed to have slightly better then a PS3 GPU and with a fast quad behind it would allow for much fun to be had, especially if we get OpenCL going since the GPU supports it.

Google is working on an own Chromebook, much like the Nexus series for Android. It might have just that.

[bug77]

I don't know, in the same ballpark as Atom doesn't sound like "crazy fast" to me. Also, I have a hard time thinking about what I'd use this for.

[sloggerKhan]

Can this thing play 720p or 1080p smoothly over HDMI with Ubuntu/other distro of choice?

If so, I am probably going to get one of these things now that I know it can have a real OS installed and not hacked on. My single core atom netbook is showing its age and I've been avoiding the locked down Chromebooks.

[sykobee]

Very interesting benchmarks so far - look forward to seeing more, and more varied ones too.

It would be interesting to see comparisons to a Bobcat core - an E-450 or similar, as well as a similar power consumption C-60.

This Exynos 5250 is a 32nm product, but they are planning a 28nm variant fairly soon as well. That could be quad-core, and/or faster at 2GHz, and/or even better octo-core Mali T658 graphics - let's call it the Exynos 5450. That will be one sweet SoC.

[Adarion]

If we now get a free as in freedom GPU driver for it... wow! That would be awesome.
That thing plus enough battery runtime, a good keyboard (75% vendors fail at this), enough USB and maybe one or the other legacy port and 100% free drivers for it. Would be a dream. And considering the price it looks like a good offer.