IT TOOK A WEEK, or so, from the first leaks of AMD’s new mobile processors until the official unveiling today. The good news is that AMD did at least manage to keep its new sub 15W TDP models under lock and key, unlike the rest of its new products. AMD is also pushing its Vision branding heavily, although it’s meant to make it easier for consumers to pick the right AMD powered notebook, we’re still confused about it.
The details we published last week proved to be correct, although one important addition that we missed was that with the exception for the Athlon II models, all of the new 25W+ mobile CPU’s features a 128bit FPU, while the Athlon II’s get stuck with a 64bit FPU. There’s also an AMD V-series processor in the 25W+ category called the V120 which operates at 2.2GHz and is a single core CPU with a mere 512kb cache. We can’t imagine that this is going to be a very appealing option, unless it’s vastly cheaper than the dual core Athlon II’s.
The new sub 15W – or the Ultrathin Platform as AMD likes to call it – features a range of interesting options. The one model we already knew about is the entry level V105 which is the 9W single core 1.2GHz budget option that Acer will reportedly be using in some models of the Aspire One 521. The next model up is also a single core CPU called the Athlon II Neo K125. It’s clocked at 1.7GHz, has 1MB of L2 cache and a TDP of 12W. Things start to get a bit more interesting with the dual core Athlon II Neo K325, although the 1.3GHz clock speed isn’t going to break any performance records, even at a 15W TDP. As this is a dual core CPU, it doubles the L2 cache to 2MB over the K125. All these models have a Hypertransport bus speed of 2.0GT/s and a 64bit FPU.
The final two models are the ones that make things really interesting and which should be able to put up a good fight against Intel’s entry level CULV processors such as the Celeron SU2300 and Pentium SU4100. First up we have the 1.5GHz Turion II Neo K625, again a dual core CPU with 2MB of L2 cache, but it and its faster sibling, the 1.7GHz K665 both feature a faster 3.2GT/s Hypertransport bus and a 128bit FPU. If these two processors are priced right, we can see them becoming hugely popular in the ~1.5kg notebook space.
It’s important to note that the AMD V-series of processors don’t qualify for AMD’s Vision branding, as they’re apparently too slow or something. Considering that the requirements for the most basic part of the Vision program includes viewing pictures and listening to music on your computer, we’re at a loss as to why AMD wouldn’t include these two processors in a program that is meant to make it easier for the consumers to pick the right computer.
We’re a lot more excited about the Turion II Neo processors than pretty much any of the other models, despite both models being more power hungry than Intel’s CULV models. One of the reasons for this is that it looks like AMD will be pairing up all of its new mobile processors with the M880G chipset which should prove to be a better performer than Intel’s GS45 and derivatives when it comes to multimedia applications. We will hopefully see notebooks based on these CPU’s retailing for a similar or lower price than Intel’s CULV notebooks that are currently in the market.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
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