allaboutsymbian
March 12th, 2010, 02:20
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/03/03-11-10ontario.jpg
We've always said (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/amd-talks-specs-on-fusion-continues-to-release-nothing/) AMD should go after the gaping hole between netbooks and thin-and-lights by releasing a low-power platform with solid graphics abilities, and it looks like the company's finally coming around -- AMD's John Taylor just told us that the chipmaker will be releasing a netbook-class Fusion CPU / GPU hybrid codenamed "Ontario" with integrated DX11 graphics sometime next year. If Ontario sounds familiar, it's because we've seen it leaked in the past (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/26/next-gen-amd-scorpius-and-lynx-desktop-platforms-leak-out-fusio/) -- it's a part of the "Brazos" platform built around the low-power Bobcat core (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/12/amd-spells-out-the-future-heterogeneous-computing-bulldozer-an/). Of course, AMD has been promising (http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/26/amd-updates-roadmap-barcelona-nearly-here-all-new-chips-in-2/) Fusion chips (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/amd-talks-specs-on-fusion-continues-to-release-nothing/) of all stripes for years now (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/25/amd-and-ati-finally-tie-the-knot-embark-on-fusion-honeymoon/) without a single shipping part (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/amd-fusion-sampling-soon-arriving-in-2011-with-llano-apu/), so saying that a Fusion chip will get it into the netbook game in 2011 is mildly amusing -- while AMD's definitely turned things around, it's still incredibly late to the low-end party, and Intel's solidly beaten it to the hybrid CPU / GPU punch with the Core 2010 and Pine Trail Atom chips. Add in the fact that NVIDIA's Optimus (http://www.engadget.com/tag/optimus)-based Ion 2 (http://www.engadget.com/tag/ion2)chipset seemingly offers the extended battery life of Atom with the performance of a discrete GPU, and we'd say the market niche Ontario is designed to fill may not actually be so niche when it finally arrives. We'll see what happens -- a year is a long, long time.
[Image via OCWorkbench (http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/AMD/AMD-Regional-Press-Briefing-2010/p3.htm)]AMD to finally take on netbook space with new Fusion chip... next year (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/) originally appeared on Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/) | | Email this (http://www.engadget.com/forward/19395756/) | Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/#comments)
More... (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/)
We've always said (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/amd-talks-specs-on-fusion-continues-to-release-nothing/) AMD should go after the gaping hole between netbooks and thin-and-lights by releasing a low-power platform with solid graphics abilities, and it looks like the company's finally coming around -- AMD's John Taylor just told us that the chipmaker will be releasing a netbook-class Fusion CPU / GPU hybrid codenamed "Ontario" with integrated DX11 graphics sometime next year. If Ontario sounds familiar, it's because we've seen it leaked in the past (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/26/next-gen-amd-scorpius-and-lynx-desktop-platforms-leak-out-fusio/) -- it's a part of the "Brazos" platform built around the low-power Bobcat core (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/12/amd-spells-out-the-future-heterogeneous-computing-bulldozer-an/). Of course, AMD has been promising (http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/26/amd-updates-roadmap-barcelona-nearly-here-all-new-chips-in-2/) Fusion chips (http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/amd-talks-specs-on-fusion-continues-to-release-nothing/) of all stripes for years now (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/25/amd-and-ati-finally-tie-the-knot-embark-on-fusion-honeymoon/) without a single shipping part (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/amd-fusion-sampling-soon-arriving-in-2011-with-llano-apu/), so saying that a Fusion chip will get it into the netbook game in 2011 is mildly amusing -- while AMD's definitely turned things around, it's still incredibly late to the low-end party, and Intel's solidly beaten it to the hybrid CPU / GPU punch with the Core 2010 and Pine Trail Atom chips. Add in the fact that NVIDIA's Optimus (http://www.engadget.com/tag/optimus)-based Ion 2 (http://www.engadget.com/tag/ion2)chipset seemingly offers the extended battery life of Atom with the performance of a discrete GPU, and we'd say the market niche Ontario is designed to fill may not actually be so niche when it finally arrives. We'll see what happens -- a year is a long, long time.
[Image via OCWorkbench (http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/AMD/AMD-Regional-Press-Briefing-2010/p3.htm)]AMD to finally take on netbook space with new Fusion chip... next year (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/) originally appeared on Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).
Permalink (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/) | | Email this (http://www.engadget.com/forward/19395756/) | Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/#comments)
More... (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/amd-to-finally-take-on-netbook-space-with-new-fusion-chip-nex/)