[Arm-netbook] Selecting the right Soc for out ARM Notebook project.

[Lauri Kasanen]

> Samsung and TI doesn't have Ethernet MAC inside. But it is in the
> range of 1-2 USD to get RTL8150 for example - it is USB Ethernet chip,
> and it contains a PHY inside. For Allwinner (and all other that have
> inbuilt MAC) you still have to add external PHY. Of course, you can
> expect better performance from inbuilt Ethernet, but for this type of
> CPU it does not matter too much. .... If you decide to
> include USB HUB chip, that you can get a combo - USB HUB + USB
> Ethernet (SMSC has some).

USB ethernet is simply unacceptable for many uses, you might want to check how much you'll need the ethernet. For example the rpi has such a solution, and when using it at its full speed, I measured 50% sys cpu usage, without any server overhead. [1]

That would preclude most servers, NAS uses, or in a company laptop case, good access to the company file servers.

The fact that the A10 has it built-in bodes well for these uses.

- Lauri

[1] http://candgsoc.host56.com/2012/04/quality-time-with-a-raspberry-pi/