Lowest Capacity Archos G9 Tablets Will be Slower Than Others, But Why? (also, EU pricing confirmed)

Posted on 02 September 2011, Last updated on 10 June 2018 by

archos-g9-tablets1We’re really looking forward to Archos’ new G9 tablets, their inexpensive price and unique features are going make them a welcomed addition to the world of Honeycomb tablets.

As Charbax of ARMdevices.net shows us, the TI OMAP 4460 found in the G9 tablets will run at different speeds depending upon the capacity (and the price) of the tablet that you purchase.

When Archos first announced the Archos 80 G9 and the 101 G9, they were said to eventually be available in 8/16/250GB capacities, while other specs would remain the same. However, at IDF they are now showing that the 8GB variant of both models will run at 1GHz instead of 1.5GHz.

The lower capacity makes sense to bring down the price even further and offer additional choice to customers. What I don’t quite understand is the lower clock speed. As far as I can tell, the 8GB model of the 80 and 101 is still running the same CPU as the 16/250GB models. Feel free to correct me on this, but I can’t think of any additional fee that would be incurred to use a different clock speed on the CPU, so I have to wonder why they are lowering the speed on the 8GB variants.

My best theory is that Archos wants the more expensive models to be the most appealing, and give an additional incentive for going with one of the higher capacity units. If that’s the case, I can’t help but feel like they’re artificially giving users of the 8GB variants the shaft, though I’m hoping there is something less dubious behind it.

Archos confirmed US pricing for the 16GB variants of the 80 and 101 back when they were first announced; $270 and $349 respectively, and we should see the other models officially priced soon. Charbax has the official EU prices for all models here. The G9 80 and 101 will become available at the end of September, according to Archos.

Chippy is on the IDF show floor and we’ll see if he can get this question about the CPU speed answered for us.

7 Comments For This Post

  1. Charbax says:

    Hi, it’s normal for CPUs to be printed at different speeds, lower speed have higher good yields so they are cheaper to manufacture. Just ask Intel about it at IDF.

  2. Ben says:

    But as far as Archos has indicated, we’re talking about the same CPU with a modified clock speed, not separate CPUs.

  3. turn.self.off says:

    Will make the overclockers go crazy.

  4. Nianios Romanos says:

    I think you can find your answer in the site of Texas Instruments its different cpus

    http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?templateId=6123&navigationId=12843&contentId=53243

    OMAP4430 OMAP4460
    Process node: 45nm 45nm
    Gzh : 1 GHz 1.5 GHz

    The lower capacity tablets uses the OMAP4430 and the highest the OMAP4460. I am not sure about this 100% but i cant think anything else.

  5. Ben says:

    Good find, I’ll query Archos about this.

  6. PadMeUp says:

    I think you are exactly right.
    Seems like the best explanation and was what I was going to suggest also. I mean ffs, how hard is this really. Get hold of the physical unit, go into setting and check out the processor ffs. All this conjecture and “I’ll ask them” b/s gets tiring. Grab the unit and check the specs and why you are at it….check the RAM on each unit variant. Sick to death of all the RAM unknowns. Can someone actually come up with the goods and give us accurate detailed specs???…
    Waiting…
    Surprise us!

  7. Ben says:

    If I was there I would have already checked on this, unfortunately I’m not, so asking Archos is my only option. Chippy is on the show-floor and I’ve asked him to get to the bottom of it, which he will if he has time, check back for updates.

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