Advanced Micro Devices is now planning to ship a dual-core Athlon Neo processor later in 2009. The AMD-dual core Athlon Neo is slated to be part of the chip maker's platform code-named Congo and designed for a line of ultraportable, affordable laptops. AMD and Hewlett-Packard at CES rolled out a notebook based on the platform code-named Yukon, which uses a single-core Athlon Neo processor. The announcement from AMD comes as reports surface that Intel is planning to refresh its Atom lineup with processors running at slightly better clock speeds.
Advanced
Micro Devices, which just announced that it would eliminate 1,100 jobs to help
trim costs, confirmed that it's planning to ship a dual-core version of its
Athlon Neo processor later in 2009 as part of its "Congo"
platform for new types of ultraportable laptops.
In a Jan. 16 e-mail,
AMD spokesperson Phil Hughes wrote that AMD is planning to ship the
dual-core Athlon Neo processor, code-named Conesus, by the second half of 2009.
Hughes declined to give a specific date for the launch or a hint as to the
chip's clock speed.
Congo is the
second platform for a new type of ultraportable laptop that AMD
and its OEM partners are hoping to bring to the PC market this year. At the CES
expo earlier in January,
AMD
along with Hewlett-Packard rolled out the first laptop based on the
"Yukon" platform that used a single-core Athlon Neo processor
with a clock speed of 1.6GHz.
When AMD first unveiled the Yukon
platform, company executives suggested that a dual-core processor was in the
works, but this is the first time AMD
confirmed that it does have a dual-core Athlon Neo planned for later in 2009.
Unlike the types of mininotebooks and "netbooks" that
Intel
helped create with the launch of the Atom processor and platform in 2008, AMD
is targeting slightly larger laptops that have displays of between 12 and 14 inches.
The idea is to create new notebooks that are lightweight, portable and
affordable but run on low power and have enough graphics and processing power
to support complex software applications.
In this case, AMD is competing more with
the types of low- and ultralow-volt processor
Intel
makes for high-end laptops such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and X301.
The fact that AMD is confirming a new Athlon
Neo processor comes as reports surface that
Intel is preparing to revamp its Atom lineup with new chips running at
slightly faster clock speeds. According to several Web sites,
Intel is planning to
release a 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor
that will use a new northbridge/southbridge known as the GN40.
With Congo, AMD plans to use the dual-core Athlon Neo processor along
with its own RS780M chip set that includes a SB710 southbridge. The first Athlon Neo worked within a 15-watt thermal
envelope and it is likely that AMD will keep the power envelope low when it releases the
dual-core version.
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