ALTHOUGH AMD IS expected to unveil its Ontario platform this side of Christmas, it looks like we’ll have to wait until Q1 next year to see any retail products in the market. That’s a long wait for those that are hoping to get their hands on the first Fusion hardware from AMD, but hopefully it won’t be a wait in vain.
Digitimes is reporting that Acer, Asus and HP are all planning on releasing products with AMD’s Ontario APUs in them. The processors – with integrated ATI graphics on die – are set to target the ultra-thin notebook market and will be taking on Intel’s Atom platform as well as its ultra-low power processors.
There are concerns that consumers aren’t interested in ultra-thin notebooks after Intel’s netbook and CULV push, although Ontario shouldn’t be much of a match for Intel’s Atom products. It might well be that Intel has managed to ruin the market for AMD by launching consumer products in a form factor that wasn’t quite ready for the mainstream market and ended up disappointing many a consumer who will now shy away from thin and light notebooks.
However, if AMD can prove that it has built a solution that will meet consumer demands, such as being able to run general applications without slow down as well as handle HD video content and streaming video without the problems that have been plaguing Intel’s Atom platform, AMD could well come out victorious in this market segment. This would require a different approach from AMD though, as the company isn’t always the best at promoting its products to the right target audience.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
Latest posts by Lars-Göran Nilsson (see all)
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