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back to article AMD readies answer to Intel's Ultrabook

How powerful is the Ultrabook brand? AMD is betting it is less important to punters - and laptop vendors - than price. The chip maker is to launch a platform for skinny machines in Q2. According to moles, AMD's "Ultrathin" platform will debut in June with a view to costing computer makers 10-20 per cent less than Intel's …

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  1. dogged

    $100-$200 cheaper and AAA game capable would certainly sell.

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  2. spencer

    If it were cheaper with a better integrated gfx chip (think Brazos) then it'd be a win.

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    1. Ammaross Danan
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      Trinity will have a slighly upgraded GPU compared to Brazos, however Ivy Bridge will have a significant step up in GPU from Sandy Bridge. Will it bring enough performance to compete against an integrated Radeon? Not a chance. They're mainly trying to include DX11 support and pump out a few more FPS. Trinity's biggest weakness will be the Bulldozer cores, which would hobble any GPU beefier than the built-in one. This is where Ivy Bridge will excel, allowing Intel to significantly underclock/volt their laptop-binned chips and maintain on-par performance (with Trinity) at significantly lower TDPs. With an add-on wifi chip, it will use more power than the built-in WiFi planned for Ivy Bridge, so :( to that too. Will the price save AMD? Likely, as raw CPU performance is no where near as important (or noticable) for the lay user nowadays. The battery life will be a decisive factor though, separating out the long-lifers from the perma-plug users.

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      1. reenie
        Reply Icon

        i would have thought the wi fi chip position on the mother board is pretty unimportant as to wattage useage , I would have thought the power it emits from the antenna is the overriding factor ? Trinity is the replacement for Llano no Brazos. Brazos competes with Atom and is about a 30% the performance of LLano . Plus all mobile Llano CPUs can be undervolted and at the same time overclocked to increase performance and battery life . I d expect a tweaked undervoltage Llano AKA Trinity/Piledriver to be able to give the undervoltage Sandybridge a good contest . Whether it can compete with Ivybridge on wattage/performance is another thing . Hopefully GloFo can improve its 32Nm process to reduce leakage which will help a lot . AMD will be competive in price tho .

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    oooh

    Second rate CPU and second rate GPU (with horrid drivers), but a choice of wireless chipset. Why yes, that does make all the difference, I'll have three please.

    (Be still, my beating heart)

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Intel...better graphics?

      Let me check my Work laptop..W7

      Processor 5.8

      memory 5.5

      HDD 5.9

      Graphics 3.9 !

      Intel have NEVER made decent graphics.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        indeed

        Which is why I bought a Stinkpad with NVidia graphics :)

        1 0
  4. Gordon 10

    Sheesh. How many years since Centrino lauched and AMD still cannot achieve battery life anything like Intels. Talk about asleep at the wheel. They really are proving that they were a flash in the pan.

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    1. reenie
      Reply Icon

      Have you seen any tests on Llano , similar battery life to Sandybridge on general useage stuff and double battery life compared to Sandybridge in gaming ( Anandtech - "Considering graphics performance is a healthy step up from what Intel’s HD 3000 offers and that AMD manages double the battery life under gaming situations compared to the K53E, mobile gaming is clearly a win."). So they are competitive in the real world. Just a shame the Bulldozer core is a bit weak for the watts used n not really an improvement to K10, hopefully Piledriver/Trinity will get a tweak n better process from GloFo.

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  5. reenie

    Think the graphics chip on these platforms will be at least 3 times Brazos and prob a bit above Llano. The CPU will still be below Sandy/Ivy bridge but same as LLano but with a reduction in wattage . AMD drivers are far infont of Intels , so i wouldn t call them horrid.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    AMD Trinity is the performance leader

    I don't know about untrathins but I'm waiting on an AMD Trinity powered ultraportable. If the ultrathin deal is what people want, AMD's version is better and cheaper than Intel's Ultra-FAIL over-priced book..

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  7. Eddy Ito

    Hoping

    Finally, portability at a normal price. I expect/hope it will have better battery life than intel/nvidia and much better graphics than intel alone. Netbooks were a great concept, too bad they were killed by their own processor... oh and tablets didn't help either.

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