Asus hasn’t officially launched the Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet yet, but it looks like someone might be testing a pre-release unit. If you run the AnTuTu benchmark utility on any current Android device today, you’re likely to find that you don’t have the fastest machine around. Thats’ because the Tranformer Prime now shows up at the top of the list.
It’s a bit surprising to see the test results in the wild, but it’s hardly shocking that the Prime is trouncing the competition.
The new Asus tablet will be one of the first devices to ship with an NVIDIA Kal-El quad-core processor. It’s expected too carry a clock speed of 1.4 GHz, but the benchmark results also show a version clocked at 1.6 GHz. In addition to having a faster clock speed than most chips on the market today and more processor cores than most competing ARM-based chips, the Kal-El processor will also feature big improvements in graphics performance.
Benchmarks such as AnTuTu don’t always paint the most accurate pictures of real world performance since it’s hard to measure all the different ways you might use a device. But the benchmark does try to gauge the speed and performance of the processor, memory, graphics, and storage — and that at least gives you something to compare to other devices.
According to the AnTutu charts, the devices living in the Transformer Prime’s shadow include the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S II smartphones.
Asus is expected to formally launch the Transformer Prime on November 9th.
Not sure about the comparison, the chips and software are optimized to perform different kinds of tasks…so far.  I have a TF101 transformer running at 1.6ghz -1.7ghz and it scores just under 7000 on Antutu without any special optimization, it is lightning fast (under 1 sec) opening any app and no perceptible KB lag, with the exception of any kind of spreadsheet. In any of the spreadsheet software I have tried under android it is a total dog. Â
My daughters Atom is generally slow and lags at everything UI related, but it will drive spreadsheet software just fine. Â Â
I can’t wait how Windows 8 performs on ARM. Especially without legacy support weighing it down. Good thing all the software I use are in active development and shouldn’t take too long to be optimized for ARM.
I’m really hoping Windows 8 for ARM is successful. Mainly because I want UMPCs to come back. It would be great to have a Windows slider with a mouse and touchscreen.
Too bad I haven’t seen much on how well it works but I’m still hoping for good news.
Agree. Â Android has its strengths, but there are some things I need or prefer to do in Windows. Â But I guess another option would be to set up a virtual windows machine (if that is the right terminology.)
This with ICS would be the first Androd tablet I would consider. Now, if Cyanogenmod will release ROMs for it, it’ll be golden.
Any sense of the performance gap between this and a single core Atom chip? Â How close is the top ARM to the bottom X86?
The architectures are so different that it’s tough to say at this point — especially since the software that runs on each is so different. While you can run Android on Atom, it’s not really optimized for it yet, so the OS might seem more sluggish even though the chip is technically more powerful.
That will likely change as Intel/Google work together to optimize Android for Atom and vice versa. Meanwhile, we’ll soon be seeing Windows 8 on ARM, which should allow us to run some head-to-head benchmarks.
But for now it’s not sheer number-crunching that sets the chips apart. Most Atom chips, for instance, can’t handle 1080p HD video — something that’s becoming quite common in ARM processors. Atom chips also draw more energy and don’t feature the same kind of low power mode that allows you to receive phone calls or incoming messages even when the device is “off.”
Like Brad said, it’s hard to make direct comparisons yet. General consensus is that ARM is just getting to the point of rivaling Intel ATOMs with their next gen processors.
The main advantage being power efficiency and as Brad also mentioned graphics performance. Though Intel is addressing both with Cedar Trail, making HD standard and noticeably improving power efficiency and power saving features, ARM will still have the advantage here but it won’t be as big a difference, and it’s just a question of driver support right now as Intel doesn’t have as good a history using PowerVR GPU’s as ARM has.
For some idea of performance though, the older Tegra2 could just run Linux Ubuntu without being noticeably sluggish. So you can compare that to the indicated benchmarks for a rough idea of how well the Tegra 3 will do. Along with better support for running a desktop OS that should make it easier to get everything working than it was with the Tegra 2.
While Windows 8 should be, when it’s finished, just as easy to run, if not easier, as Windows 7 is now. Though you may prefer the performance of the 28nm Cortex A15 chips coming out in 2012-2013.
Nvidia’s Wayne (Tegra 4) should be coming out a little over a year after Tegra 3 comes to market, for example, and may come out about the same time they start offering Windows 8 SP1 and provide a greater app ecosystem to make Windows 8 ARM devices more appealing.
While Intel won’t really improve the Intel ATOM until 2013 when they’ll come out with the 22nm Silvermont update and finally update the whole architecture. So ARM has a small window of opportunity to start competing against Intel’s ATOM products.