I don't know if avast have made inroads into multiple cpus, some time ago there was some optimisation for those using Intel duel core processors.
I think many netbooks and laptops won't have the grunt to run the NG function - it is certainly a no go on my Aspire One netbook, Win7 Starter (32bit) 10.1", 1024X600 screen, 2GB DDR3 RAM, Intel Atom N255 (1.5GHz dual core) CPU, (even if it has the functionality).