"Nothing" from parent was a comparison. Doesn't mean their system is idle.
However many systems are mostly idle. A file server often doesn't use much cpu. It often isn't even serving anything.
However many systems are mostly idle. A file server often doesn't use much cpu. It often isn't even serving anything.
The "nothing" here was exactly meant more for the times when it does have to do something. But even then at 45W TDP, as long as it's able to do what it needs to, then the newer CPUs have no real edge. What they gain in performance due to multi core they loose in being essentially equivalent single core performance for what that machine does: HTPC file serving, email server etc.