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All Entries Tagged With: "AMD"
Intel Going Sour On Netbooks?
At an IT Supply Chain conference, Stu Pann, VP in Sales / Marketing at Intel, seems to be poo-poohing the whole Netbook craze, of which Intel and their Atom processor is largely associated with:
“If you’ve ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size–it’s fine for an hour. It’s not something you’re going to use day in and day out.”
Pann went on to add:
“We originally thought Netbooks would be for emerging markets and younger kids, and there is some of that. It turns out the bulk of the Netbooks sold today are Western Europe, North America, and for people who just want to grab and go with a notebook,” Pann said. “We view the Netbook as mostly incremental to our total available market,” he added.
Way to sell the whole Netbook idea, Mr. Pann. At least Intel and AMD are now on the same page regarding Netbooks, though. Regardless, I think a set of Netbook talking-points are already sitting in Pann’s email box….
AMD Talks About Netbook, Mobility Strategy – Yukon Coming
During AMD’s Financial Analyst meeting, they are announced a number of technologies, but of interest to our readers is their Netbook and ultra-portable strategy. AMD announced the Yukon platform for the mini-notebook, netbook, and ultra-mobile platform – to be released first half of 2009. They also laid out the platform roadmap for the next several years for ultra-mobiles and netbooks. Screen shots after the break.
Yukon: sleek mobile platform, slim processor implementation, sub-25 watt TDPs
Upcoming netbook /ultra-portable platform for 2009/2010/2011: Conesus: 2 cores, 1M cache, DDR2; Geneva 2 cores 2M cache, DDR3; Ontario 2 cores, 1 mb cache, DDR3, GPU
AMD Set To Release Netbook Effort
Are Netbooks the answer? That’s a big question on a number of different fronts these days. AMD is hosting a Financial Analyst Day and the expectations are that they are going to dip their toes in the Netbook waters in a big way. AMD has been struggling on a number of fronts this year, and if the Netbook announcement expectation is true it will be interesting to see if it moves the needle in the eyes of financial analysts.
Via Notebooks.com
AMD Will Discuss Netbook Plans Next Month
I guess the wait and see period for AMD is just about over when it comes to Netbooks. Previously AMD had been content to sit on the sidelines and watch the market develop. In fact some of AMD’s talk was completely dismissive of the Netbook scene. Now that it is clear that Netbooks will continue to gain market share, it looks like they are ready to move forward in some fashion. AMD’s CEO Dirk Meyer is saying that their approach involves a “complicated answer” and that they will reveal their plans at an anaylst’s meeting next month on November 13. AMD is certainly behind the 8-ball in this market changing scenario, and in the context of competing with Intel, it is obvious, at least in the early going, that Intel’s Atom chipset has delivered so far.
Via Network World with a Hat tip to Liliputing
Does AMD Get Netbooks?
Interesting video featuring Pat Morehead, VP of Advanced Marketing at AMD in which he talks about Netbooks and AMD’s wait and see approach to that crazy market. What do you think folks, is AMD playing it smart or just defending their wait and see posture?
Via jkkmobile
Steve Seto’s Open Letter To Dell And ATI - FIX THE VIDEO!
Long-time GBM community member and contributer Steve Seto has written an open letter to Dell and AMD/ATI requesting they fix the video/graphics driver for the Dell XT on our forums. The problem seems to lie with the incomplete installation of the Catalyst Control Center and the impending incompatibility of said driver causing BSODs and other negative performance issues. If you’ve had any problems with the Dell/ATI video drivers for your XT, chime in! Hopefully a widespread communal outcry is what it will take before Dell and AMD/ATI addresses the problem. Steve has also posted his open letter at Dell’s Direct2Dell forum in hopes of getting some sort of response.
In case you missed the forum link above, here it is again.
AMD Will Sit Out the NetBook Craze for the Time Being
It appears that AMD is going to play wait and see when it comes to the NetBook phenomenon. Pat Morehead of AMD is quoted as saying the following to InfoWorld:
“We haven’t announced anything for this type of cheap mini-notebook and we’re still taking this wait-and-see attitude,” and
“If you can’t grow the market with this form factor, then what you’re providing is a lower experience for less money, which isn’t good for the consumer and isn’t good for the [hardware maker], and really isn’t good for the channel as well.”
These comments along with recent ones from Intel CEO Paul Otellini, sure lead one to believe that there are some calculated gambles going on that might require some bet hedging.
AMD Answers Some Questions
Several weeks ago, I went to Austin, TX to meet with AMD. I asked our readers for questions they would like answered, and I submitted them.
I just received the answers, which are posted at the Read More link:
What AMD chip is in the new raon Everun umpc that was at computex ?
AMD GEODE
Considering how late Barcelona/Phenom was and assurances made last year it would be on time, is AMD sticking with its schedule for 45nm? Will AMD release low-end or High End 45nm first?
While we can’t comment on specific frequencies, we plan to begin shipping our 45nm server and desktop parts, codenamed, “Shanghai” and “Deneb” respectively, in the second-half of this year.
Do they expect improved performance with 45nm at similar freqs. compared to Phenom/Barcelona?
Both processors will feature enhancements to the existing core and recognize benefits from the shift to 45nm process technology.
Where does AMD see itself financially in 5 years time? Can they dig themseleves out of the current hole and if so which division do they think will be responsible for their comeback (GPU or CPU)?
We can’t speculate on this.
Where do they see market share in each of the above segments in the next 12 months?
We can’t speculate on this.
Will NVidia Physix capabilities play a major role in the GPU segment, and how is AMD dealing with this?
Thus far, PhysX has not been implemented by any game developers, and even then, NVIDIA only plans on supporting a dozen titles in the next year or so. On the flip side, AMD supports Havok physics, which is currently implemented in over 300 game titles.
Intel is moving to ‘native quad’ design and HT typee interconnects. How will AMD counter to stay competitive or o they feel their offering will be good enough to take on the Intel CPU’s?
We continue to enhance our Direct Connect Architecture which is currently in its third generation of AMD microprocessors. Around the time Intel begins production of its Nehalem processors, we will be beginning production of our 45nm server and desktop processors with even more enhancements to our Direct Connect Architecture as well as coherent HyperTransport 3 for our server processors.
Rob, what are their thoughts on recent discussions elsewhere that multicore CPUs will eventually replace graphics cards. Are AMD pursuing this as an objective?
No, AMD is not pursuing this as an objective. Case in point; a single graphics chip has 40 to 50 times the parallel compute power of a CPU, and this is the kind of compute capability that is best suited to graphics.
AMD Decides To Play Wait and See On Mobile Processors and NetBooks
You can certainly say that these are interesting times we live in when it comes to mobile computing, the chips that power them, and the companies who make those chips. Some would call it confusing. AMD has been going through some rough times of late and has had some significant turnover in the executive suite recently, which of course usually heralds change. On the mobile front, it looks like that change at AMD was outlined by new Marketing Officer, Nigel Dessau. According to eWeek, AMD is going to take a pass at the moment on Netbooks (or whatever you want to call them) and adopt a ‘wait and see’ stance.
“We are not saying it’s not an important segment and we’re not saying it’s not a growing segment,” Dessau said. “What we are saying is that we are a smaller company and we have to focus on what we do well at this point. We are watching that segment rather than playing in it, but as it matures we’ll see where it goes. At this moment, we are going to focus on what we do best.”
Rob recently has been reporting on AMD news and took a trip there to check out PUMA and other AMD developments. These new statements point to some recent re-evaluation at AMD.
Links to Rob’s earlier articles:
AMD Continues to Struggle, CEO Steps Down, Talks Netbooks
AMD Continues to Struggle, CEO Steps Down, Talks Netbooks
Just before announcing their second quarter results, a stunning $269m loss, Hector Ruiz stepped down as CEO of AMD. Ruiz has been replaced by President and COO, Dirk Meyer. During the six years that Ruiz ran AMD, they posted a combined loss of $6.3 billion.
In other AMD news, newly-minted CEO Dirk Meyer talked about how serious they are about the ultra-portable / netbook space during the company’s earning conference call. Meyer said AMD was not interested in the MID space, but intended to compete seriously for ultra-portables / netbooks.
“We’re a much smaller company with not nearly the scale that our competitor has,” Meyer said. “We don’t intend to try to do absolutely everything they do in the marketplace. (But) slightly smaller form factor notebooks and inexpensive notebooks. That is a market segment that we’re interested in.”
Things That I’m Excited About in The Mobile PC Space
The past few weeks have been the busiest ever for me. With trips to the Surface team, AMD, Dell, and Motion, my mind is crazy with everything that is going on.
Here is a quick run-down on the companies and technologies that I’m most excited about and why.
- I’m excited about the iPhone 2.0 software due to Exchange and 3rd party application support. I’m not too crazy about iPhone 3G - kind of meh at this point.
- Microsoft Surface is totally nuts. There is so much potential in that new paradigm of computing, I can totally understand the Surface team’s struggles with focus and execution. They want to get it right and, so far, are doing a great job. They want Surface in the consumer space as quickly as everyone else, so stay tuned. It’ll happen, we just need to be patient. Why do we talk about Surface so much on a mobile site? The technology they are working on will find its way to mobile computing and a new paradigm in computing will totally revolutionize the mobile space. That is why I’m working on Dell Latitude XT. Right now, it is the most future proof tablet pc on the market.
- Dell is looking to be a trendsetter rather than a follower in the mobile space. I think they will do it.
- Motion Computing is working on some awesome stuff and I’m very excited about them as a company. I am concerned, though, that they should shorten the time between products. They started off with a regular yearly product release cycle, but have been increasing the time between new products as each year passes, thus allowing other companies to encroach. In my opinion, the LS800 was the right product at the right time with the wrong pricing that also needed some engineering issues addressed. I’m not sure that we will ever see Motion release another form factor like that, but I would never bet against them, either. A reegineered LS800, if properly marketed and priced, could totally revolutionize Motion.
- AMD’s biggest move to the mobile space is happening right now with PUMA, their upcoming Hybrid CrossfireX technology (discrete and integrated graphics in the same box), and Shrike (GPU and CPU on the same piece of silicon) targeted to ultra-mobiles. AMD wants to be a major player in the ultra-mobile space, and I think they will succeed. I found AMD to be remarkably frank and honest about their past mistakes and learning from them. There is a lot of trust be earned right now, and AMD is in a position to earn it back or get laughed off the stage. I think they will earn the trust in a big way.
- OQO has been releasing frequent updates to its Model 02 (CPU, SSD, etc), but it has been a year and a half since the Model 02 was announced. It’s time for something new and innovative. I’m very excited to see what OQO has been working on the past year. OQO is the right player in the right space at the right time with the right product. Pricing structure changes will help elevate them to the next level.
- Lenovo’s rumored X200 Tablet PC has got a lot of people talking. If it is anything like the X300 ultra-portable, it should be an overwhelming success.
- HP seems to be hitting some great strides with their TX Tablet PC series. The word I’m hearing is that it is selling like crazy. They hit the price point and addressed interaction issues. Let’s hope they are listening with regards to the 2710p - folks love it, but there are definite issues to address with the next release.
- Evernote has totally revolutionized my use of notetaking and access to those notes from whatever device I’m on.
- Syncing is the buzz word of the moment, and in my opinion, the key to working successfully in the cloud. I’ve been taking great use of SugarSync. However, I’m very excited to see where Windows Live Mesh ends up. Seamless syncing between multiple platforms is hot stuff and is the future of the cloud.
Technorati Tags: amd, motion computing, oqo, hp, evernote, mobile, sugarsync, tablet pc, surface
AMD Coming to the LV / ULV Space
Most folks have noticed AMD quite absent from the Low Voltage / Ultra-Low Voltage space, thus the reason you don’t see them in the likes of Motion Computing’s LE1700, Fujitsu’s U810, Lenovo’s X61, OQO’s Model 02, and Dell’s Latitude XT. With their most recent PUMA announcement, AMD is taking mobile computing seriously; and now with their upcoming Shrike platform, they plan to enter the thin and light space with a vengeance.
Shrike is AMD’s first substantiation of their Fusion architecture, which combine the GPU and CPU, along with southbridge, on to a single piece of silicon.
Shrike will begin hitting the market the 2nd half of 2009. Considering how fast the ultra-portable space is moving right now, that is eon’s away. It will certainly be good to see another player enter this space and will bring some good competition for Intel and Via.
Shrike will not compete against Intel’s Atom or Via’s Isaiah. However, I wouldn’t rule them out of that space, either.
For those wondering, Shrike is a passerine bird that impales its’ prey on thorns, which helps them to devour the flesh.
AMD’s XGP - Totally Awesome
I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time, and AMD has brought it.
Imagine running three or more external monitors off your laptop, two of which are running off of a dedicated graphics card ( ie, HD 4800), the other off an integrated card. Using AMD’s XGP (external graphics platform) technology you can. Here is how it will work
Using a PCIe 2.0 port, a cable connects to an external box containing the dedicated cards. The box will be developed by OEMs and will connect to laptops or tablet pcs that have PCIe 2.0 ports. AMD’s XGP software manages the process of sending video to the proper video cards and disconnecting the. This enables a mobile user to run graphic intensive applications using discrete graphics, output to multiple monitors, and more. The particular box below is manufactured by Fujitsu and has two USB ports and is powering two monitors by HDMI and DVI. Imagine an OEM coming out with a box that will support two to three external cards.
This solution will only work with laptops / tablet pcs that have integrated ATI cards for the first year of availability. It will be available to run on other integrated solutions after that first year. Fujitsu will begin manufacturing of the first box in August, with OEMs announcing other solutions at CES 2009. The Fujitsu solution is estimated to retail for about $450 - $500.
Dell, I want this. HP, I want this. Toshiba, I want this. Lenovo, I want this. Motion Computing, I want this. OQO, I want this! Please begin supporting PCIe 2.0 in your upcoming tablets.
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AMD Tech Day - Biggest Takeaway So Far
I’ll share more details later, but the biggest takeaway for mobile users is Shrike ( PUMA’s successor) and Hybrid CrossfireX. Hybrid CrossfireX is discrete graphics and integrated graphics on the same mobile computer, and turns discrete off when going to battery: great graphics capabilities when plugged in, battery savings when mobile. I’ve very excited about Hybrid Crossfire and the potential for mobile users.
Shrike is the successor to PUMA: GPU, CPU, and south bridge on one chip, now called an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Coming 2nd half of 2009, aiming for 17" gaming machines to 8" ultra-portables. Shrike will finally bring AMD to the ultra-portable space. Shrike is a great opportunity for AMD by fusing it all on to one piece of silicon.
Turion X2 Ultra to be available on OEM units in the next couple of months.
Coming To You From Austin, TX and AMD
I’m about to head over to AMD’s offices for a series of meetings on PUMA, mobile computing, and much more. If you have some questions you’d like for me to ask AMD, please post them here. I’ve already collected the questions from the previous article, so no need to duplicate those here.
I’ll be bringing you as much information from these meetings as possible, including applicable pictures.