Strange Lag - Windows XP SP3 Home - Netbook Intel Atom 1.66Ghz 2GB RAM DDR2 667

[DaveLembke]

While the Netbook is not that powerful to begin with there is an odd lag I'm trying to figure out.

Specs:

APU Intel Atom 1.66Ghz
RAM 2GB DDR2 667Mhz ( single Ram Stick )
Toshiba NB205 Netbook
160GB HDD 5400rpm

Lag happens at Youtube and Facebook when navigating at those sites. No videos playing etc. But when you scroll up and down is when the lag is seen.

CPU use shows 40%-50% so I know that the CPU is not struggling.
Integrated GPU of the APU shouldnt struggle with simple scrolling up and down of these 2 sites.
Internet connection is fast 25/5 and speed test shows from NIC 23/4.7 running speed test.

Scrolling up and down in Libra Office has no problems.

Only thing I can come up with is that both sites use flash etc. But if the system was struggling with flash then the CPU should show its busy and its not breaking a sweat yet.

Performance settings are also set the the max on Netbook. There is a Toshiba utility where you can set it to be an electron sipper, but its set to max performance and least battery life setting.

Memtest86 run just to run it, and its good. Ran Passmark benchmark and it  just shows that its as powerful as a Pentium 4 2.53Ghz.... which isnt that powerful, but I have a lesser powerful Pentium 4 2.00Ghz that has no problem with scrolling up and down with facebook and youtube.

Reinstalled OS fresh and problem still same. No virus's as well. and Video Driver is latest available for the APU.

[Geek-9pm]

Simple answer.: Intel as made a bobo and not confessing.

Source: many users on various forums complain bout the real world performance of the Intel Atom. Benchmarks seem to be good, but in the real world people see a perceptible slow performance.

As you said, there does not seem to be heavy loading of the core. Yet the common feature  in user complaints is the Intel Atom. It is a wimp.

My reasoning. Look at this quote.

The Microsoft Surface 3 is a versatile tablet and laptop in one, offering an improved keyboard, a vibrant display and strong battery life.
- from  laptop mag.

Which is away of saying it is a wimp. If it was not slow,  he would have said so.

Here are some wimp links for this year, 2015. (There wee lots more in 2014)
http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-preview-speed-it-up
https://discuss.atom.io/t/why-is-atom-so-slow/11376/60
http://gizmodo.com/intel-compute-stick-review-don-t-buy-it-1699377058
https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=9503
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/tablets/microsoft-surface-3
Thanks for the heads up.
I will avoid buying one.  

[BC_Programmer]

But if the system was struggling with flash then the CPU should show its busy and its not breaking a sweat yet.

This isn't accurate. if the CPU is not the bottleneck to begin with then it won't be showing full utilization.

Also, you don't mention a model number, but it might be relevant that since Flash is single-threaded, if the Atom is a dual core then the 40%-50% would likely be one of the cores being pegged at full utilization.

[Calum]

Also, you don't mention a model number, but it might be relevant that since Flash is single-threaded, if the Atom is a dual core then the 40%-50% would likely be one of the cores being pegged at full utilization.

I'll vote for this.  I have an older HP 8510W with a Core 2 Duo and despite being pretty smooth in most tasks with an SSD and 4GB of RAM, anything involving Flash just brings it to a grinding halt as one of the cores gets maxed out.

[DaveLembke]

Here is the additional info... sorry about leaving it out.

Netbook = this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114665
APU = This one ( Single-Core with HT )  : http://ark.intel.com/products/41411/Intel-Atom-Processor-N280-512K-Cache-1_66-GHz-667-MHz-FSB

I was totally unaware that Flash was Single-Threaded... wow... it is what it is then. Thanks everyone!

I upgraded it to 2GB of DDR2 667Mhz when I was given a dead laptop that had 2 x 2GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM sticks in it that were good. Free upgrade to maximum memory ( single RAM slot ), but the difference between 1GB and 2GB RAM on this netbook was almost not noticeable.