14 DAY TRIAL // AMD's announcement at the Cannes Film Festival in France has confirmed the previous reports dealing with the supposed 109 design wins that AMD's new notebook platform had scored. In fact, the CPU and GPU maker did more than just confirm those rumors, having made the official introduction of not just a platform for mainstream notebooks, but also of a platform for ultrathins, and the one for mainstream and enthusiast desktops.
This complete refresh of the company's mobile and desktop PC technologies is based on the VISION Technology, which “simplifies the PC buying process at the point of sale by focusing on how consumers use PCs, rather than relying upon the confusing ‘speeds and feeds’ technical specifications that many people find difficult to understand.” VISION also stands for the high-quality visual experience that AMD systems make possible.
The mainstream mobile platform merges the M880G chipset (which boasts integrated Radeon HD 4200 graphics) with powerful triple-core CPUs like Phenom II N830 and P820, or quad-core chips like Phenom II X920 and P920. This platform also includes Mobility Radeon HD 5000-series discrete graphics and is the same one that scored the aforementioned 109 design wins. Mobile PCs based on it should soon be showcased by Acer, HP, Dell and other PC suppliers.
The ultrathin platform uses the same chipset and graphics as above, but settles for CPUs with less horsepower but higher efficiency. Examples of such chips are the new V (V105), dual-core Turion II Neo (K665, K625) and Athlon II Neo (K125, K325).
Now comes the desktop segment. A combination of the AMD 800 Series chipsets and 45nm-based CPUs makes sure that systems are never lacking in raw processing power. The list of supported chips includes dual-core, triple-core, quad-core and even hexa-core parts. Needless to say, they also utilize DirectX 11-capable graphics solutions from the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series.
“With VISION Technology from AMD, we are finally connecting how people use their PCs with the way people purchase them,” Nigel Dessau, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of AMD, said. “Today, after little more than 200 days in market, our partners are introducing more VISION-based PCs than ever before; a testament to both the competitiveness of AMD platform technology and the simplified marketing approach.”
PC makers should not take too long in unleashing products based on these platforms. In fact, we even managed to get a few close-up shots of the 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One 521, which should be formally announced soon enough.
