14 DAY TRIAL // AMD has finally decided to go official with its next-generation notebook platform, which some of you might know as Puma, after participants at this year's Computex were able to see AMD-based notebooks. The new lineup is said to bring significant improvements in HD visual performance, while also increasing the energy efficiency for notebooks. These new processors are expected to be the foundation for the new AMD Business Class, AMD GAME! and AMD LIVE! portable computers.
The numbers with which AMD hopes to take a market share from rivals Intel and VIA are quite impressing in areas like 3D graphics performance, HD image quality, battery and wireless transfer performance. The new mobile AMD 7-series chipset, AMD M780G and AMD SB700 will provide notebooks with the graphics performance of the integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200. These ATI Radeon-enabled portable computers will bring support for Microsoft's DirectX 10 API and will also feature ATI's Avivo HD Technology.
The new platform also includes the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series discrete graphics, which will bring into the spotlight the new high-end ATI Mobility Radeon 3800 series. Thanks to the 3800 Series, notebooks will be capable of achieving the highest levels of graphics performance as compared to prior ATI Mobility graphics cards. Notebooks with integrated and discrete graphics from AMD will feature the company's CrossFireX Technology, which is actually a feature of ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology meant to boost graphics performance by as much as 70 percent.
According to AMD, the next-generation AMD-based notebook will incorporate the latest in wireless connectivity technologies, such as 802.11n and 3G from "Better by Design" partners including Atheros, Broadcom, and Ralink.
In order to increase the energy efficiency factor of the notebooks, AMD has introduced its ATI PowerXpress Technology, which is said to provide the notebook with the high performance of discrete graphics when plugged into a power source, and dynamically switch to the integrated graphics, when unplugged. This saves up to 90 minutes of battery life without requiring a system boot.
Systems based on the new next-generation AMD notebook platform are available for OEM customers. The offer also includes the AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor and ATI Radeon HD graphics.