[citation][nom]cleeve[/nom]I'm sorry, I need you to clarify/simplify your point here this because I'm having trouble following your line of thought.First, AMD supplied the 1333 MHz RAM for the laptops. That's the most common laptop RAM speed by far. Right off the bat, I think it's unrealistic for you to say "I don't think you'll often see Kabini (with it's single memory channel) equipped with DDR3 1333". That's what midrange and low-end AMD stuff is outfitted with. Show me a Brazos that came from the factory with DDR 800 or better. Probably not going to happen. In fact I did a Newegg search for *every* AMD A-series laptop between $300 and $500, and *every one* that listed RAM speed came in at 1333 MHz. Surprisingly, the situation changes for Intel, where it was surprisingly easy to find 1600 MHz RAM in a laptop.Regardless, your original objection was that the Intel platforms benefited from dual-channel RAM, while Kabini has a single channel, so I shouldn't use two sticks of RAM. Then I replied as above.From what I can see, you're saying I'm 'off base' suggesting that I shouldn't purposefully cripple one platform because 4+ threads is a 'fact of life' (implying multi-threading is important), while I should hamstring Intel dual-channel memory bandwidth (implying that memory bandwidth is *not* important)?But then you say:
I totally agree, but this part really confuses me in context because it implies that I *should* run the Intel platforms with dual-channel RAM, as they support it. But that is what you protested in the first place, that Intel was benefiting from dual-channel RAM which it supports, while Kabini doesn't support it...?Unless you're saying that I should only run Kabini in it's 'best form', while crippling Intel?But, if that's your suggestion, why is that a good idea? That seems to conflict with your statement quoted immediately above.[/citation]OK first of all you're getting something mixed up here. I never demanded you run only a single channel on the Intel systems. Maybe someone else did. By all means, run the best memory setup possible for all three! Dual channel 1333 for the Pentium, dual channel 1600 for the i3, and single channel 1600 for Kabini. The only thing I said was that having only a single channel, moving Kabini from DDR3 1600 to DDR3 1333 would have a larger impact (slightly) as a percentage, in games. Of course it's probably a moot point without a LV 13-17W Celeron or Pentium to bench it against.
Second, AMD might have supplied the memory for the laptops... they could have supplied the coffee and whiskey for all I care. But the prototype shipped with DDR3L 1600 AFAIK - that's per Anandtech. Maybe they lied/are mistaken, or maybe YOUR prototype got inferior RAM. Either way I'd like to see them all run with their best memory setups. For the record I've seen plenty of Brazos systems with more than 800Mhz memory. Of course, with the exception of the E-450 (and it's two Brazos 2.0 E2 successors 1800 and 2000), they only supported up to 1066. Which is why it is impressive that at such a low total SoC power envelope, Kabini supports 1600 out of the box.
I've even seen a really cheap $279 15.6" Toshiba with a C-50 (and this was early 2011 before C-60 hit) that had a single 2GB stick of 1066 - the fastest it could support. But I digress... I think most Kabini systems, especially the A4 and up models, will ship with whatever they can support (1333 for the lowend ones, 1600 for E2-3000 and up). I don't feel that strongly about it, it's just my feeling at this point - I don't trust OEMs to do this consistently. So I could very well be wrong on this point. But a 14" Ultrathin prototype with an A4-5000 at a target price of $500? Yeah, I'd be surprised if that one doesn't ship with 1600. The prototype did, according to other reviews.