AMD Confirms Tablet Plans, Shows Trinity Chip
Advanced Micro Devices confirmed that the company plans to launch a processor for tablets, essentially making public a
Advanced Micro Devices confirmed that the company plans to launch a processor for tablets, essentially making public a that identified the chip as the "Z-series" or "Desna" chip.
AMD confirmed that it plans an AMD A8 series to take on the Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors, an AMD A6 series to take on the Core i3, as well as the AMD A4 series and two E-Series chips, including the Sabrine and Brazos platforms.
AMD executives also held up what they said was a "Trinity" chip, the forthcoming version of AMD's accelerated processing units (APUs), which make up its Fusion family. And executives also showed off the updated branding for its Vision marketing program, which will put the E2, a4, A6, and A8 series in front of the consumer for certain regions, with vaguer "dual graphics" and "quad-core" designations for others.
AMD has committed to building and delivering the world's best APU every year, Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's products group, said via Webcast from Computex. "We're doubling down," he said.
Bergman said that AMD had had Trinity, which uses the next-generation Bulldozer core, inside of its labs for a few weeks. "It looks fantastic," he said.
However, the most important component of AMD's future may be the release of the Z-series or "Desna" chip. AMD disclosed the first chip in the family, the Z-01 APU, which is currently shipping. Inside is a pair of 1-GHz Bobcat cores, AMD said; it runs at 5.9 watts.
MSI's WindPad 110W, a 10-inch, 1,280-by-800 Windows 7 tablet, includes the AMD Radeon HD 6250 graphics chip as well as 2 Gbytes of DDR II memory, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, a light sensor, and a 64-Gbyte SSD hard drive. It will run six hours or more on a single charge, MSI said. Tablets running the so-called "AMD HD Tablet" platform will include HDMI and support the Xbox 360 Media Extender, AMD said.
The need for a tablet processor has been seen as somewhat crucial for AMD; when , the lack of a tablet strategy was said to be one of the reasons that he was forced out.
Other demos at the Computex show included one by BlueStacks, a vendor that promises a technology to swap back and forth between the Android and Windows operating systems on a PC and tablets.