AMD's 'Bobcat' Platform

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

0 comments
With Intel positioning its Atom and Via competing with it with the Nano, the public is wondering what AMD is planning for serving the UMPC and low-power segments. I only recently learned of 'Bobcat', AMD's platform designed from the ground up for ultra-mobile PCs, devices and consumer electronics. Basically, its a re-designed x86 processor optimized for low-power devices with a TDP of 1 to 10 watts. It's being developed in parallel with Bulldozer, a seperate processor platform aimed at low-power desktops. In contrast, Bulldozer will have a TDP of 10 to 100 watts and a CPU-integrated GPU core that's squeezed right into the processor piece. Both are projected to launch in 2009, but by the way things are going, AMD should launch them earlier if they want to catch up.

Register Hardware ran a story on this last year. A more exhaustive article on Anandtech discusses the platform as a whole, with information interspersed with details from interviews they conducted. Another article from Tech Report discussed the technical merits of the platform when it was first revealed.

Astone's UltraMobilePC Surf

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

0 comments
Looking at Astone's latest ads in PC Buyer's Guide, I notice they're building public interest on their own version of the Via Openbook MiniNote (I blogged about Via opening up the reference design for manufacturers).

As announced in the ad, the Astone unit will be powered by a C-7M processor clocked at 1.6 GHz, pumped with 2GB of RAM and have 60GB of storage. It will have an 8.9 " LCD screen, similar to the HP Mini-Note's. Connectivity options include the now standard 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g WiFi and Bluetooth. The unit will also have a built-in card reader, 3 USB ports and a VGA out connector for outputting to a larger monitor.

Aside from a slight difference in specs, it's very much like the reference design opened up by Via. In case you've forgotten, here are images of that reference design:







Free Ground Shipping on Orders $125 or more at EpsonStore
Stop PC Crashes with WinZip System Utilities

Copyright © 2011 Tech Throes | Splashy Free Blogger Templates with Background Images, Trucks