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AMD confirms Trinity and Brazos 2.0 shipping now, globally available 'soon'
Any troglodytes out there who didn't know that AMD's next APU architecture is inbound? If so, we're gonna toast marshmallows outside your cave and give you a little pre-brief: Trinity will be a range of processors for "performance" notebooks and desktop PCs, which will continue in AMD's Fusion tradition of providing both the CPU and discrete-class graphics in a single-chip, power-efficient design. A potential rival to Ivy Bridge and the coming stampede of Ultrabooks? Yes indeed, although it's too early to say how closely matched these athletes will be, despite some early indications of 4GHz+ clock speeds. Judging from our recent look at a Trinity-packing Compal laptop, undercutting Ultrabooks on price will also be part of AMD's strategy -- along with throwing out Brazos 2.0 APUs to mop up the extreme low-power category. After all, Ivy Bridge probably won't offer truly discrete-class graphics until it's paired with an add-on GPU, which will inevitably bump up its price for gamers and multimedia types. If Trinity serves up great visuals and next-gen performance all in one go, AMD's accountants might be able to leave their subterranean hideouts too. [Thanks, Tyler]
AMD's Ultrabook competitor to focus on price, undercut Intel
When AMD showed off its upcoming Trinity APUs at CES the company was pretty light on the details. We're still stuck holding our breath for specs, but DigiTimes is reporting some alleged info on pricing. According to the report, AMD's "ultrathin" laptops will hit shelves priced between $100 and $200 less than comparably-equipped Intel machines. Of course, the folks from Sunnyvale have traditionally hit Chipzilla on pricing rather than performance (except during a brief period in the aughts when Intel got lost in the Netburst woods), so dirt-cheap AMD "Ultrabooks" wouldn't come as much of a surprise. Then again, pressure on both the laptop and tablet front could cause the Santa Clara crew to reevaluate its pricing strategy leaving its competition to either further cut profit margins or find a new angle of attack.Update: AMD has provided a statement on this story, certainly not denying things but clarifying that it isn't going to enforce any minimum specs or prices. Also, that "ultrathin" moniker isn't new and won't define any particular type of laptop like Intel's Ultrabook is attempting to do.
AMD updates A-Series APUs, gives laptop Llanos modest spec bumps
AMD released its A-Series APUs almost six months ago, and since then it's seen Intel update the A-Series' Sandy Bridge counterparts. So, it's about time for the Llano laptop lineup to do the same, and the refresh has come in the form of seven spiffy new APUs. At the high end, there's the quad-core A8-3550MX clocked at 2.0 GHz with Radeon HD 6620G graphics to supplant the older A8-3530MX chip. On the low end, the 1.9GHz dual core A4-3305M with Radeon HD 6480G graphics joins AMD's A4-3300M. It's a minor update all around, with most models seeing a 100MHz boost in turbo frequency over existing A-Series APUs. If you're itching to dig a little deeper into all the fresh Fusion silicon, you'll find what you're looking for at the links below.
AMD A4-3300 and A4-3400 APUs ready to ship, take on Intel for your budget PC dollar
That's right folks, AMD's A4 APUs are here and ready to take on Intel in a battle for the bottom end of the mainstream desktop market. These dual-core desktop parts pack integrated graphics courtesy of the company's Radeon line. Both also boast a 65W TDP and 1MB of L2 cache. The only difference here is speed and price: the 3300 clocks in at 2.5GHz with a 440MHz GPU for $70, while the 3400 moves on up to 2.7GHz and a 600MHz GPU for only $5 more. They're not exactly speed demons, but should be able to hold their own against similarly priced Pentiums -- especially if you don't plan on buying a discrete graphics card. You can pick one up now at Amazon and other select retailers but, before you go, check out the PR after the break.
