AMD Ontario-Based Notebooks Bound for Q1 2011

When a company like Advanced Micro Devices is about to unleash a new string of processors, PC suppliers always get ready for a veritable competition in terms of how fast and well they can integrate the new platform, or platforms, in their products. Needless to say, this is exactly what will happen once AMD finally starts shipping its next generation of processors, dubbed APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) powered by the Fusion technology. Apparently, PC makers are already finalizing their plans for when the new chips arrive.

It goes without saying that AMD's official launch of the Ontario mobile platform will be immediately followed up by computers based on it, but not all, if any, of them are usually quick in actually entering mass availability. According to Digitimes, however, the early period of next year will mark the emergence of a fair number of such computers, as more than one AMD partner will deliver Ontario-based laptops. ASUS, Acer and HP will supposedly enter a race.

The Ontario APUs will start being mass-produced in December, in the fabs of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Some market watchers are reserved about its sales performance, because demand has been weakening for ultrathin notebooks and netbooks. On the other hand, the APUs have lower power draw and heat generation, and this should prove most useful in spurring demand, especially considering that the CPU and graphics performance is actually strong. Not only that, but the APUs will even be affordable, or so the company claims, and notebook players have supposedly already placed orders because of this.

On the opposite side of the field are those market watchers that are quite confident in the new notebook platform and estimate that AMD will be able to use it as a leverage to increase its global laptop share by 15%. Regardless, all will be decided once the chips actually make their appearance.