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AMD's PowerXpress technology at work.
AMD goes after Centrino with its "Puma" platform

AMD today paper launched its Puma platform in a press event streamed live over the web. Puma is AMD’s third-generation mobile platform based on AMD’s Griffin processor and RS780M chipset.

AMD first broke news of its Puma platform in April of last year. Information at that time was mainly about the platform’s CPU, Griffin, and the only details revealed about the CPU were rather conceptual in nature.  

Puma is AMD’s first attempt at a “complete” mobile platform. Whereas AMD’s previous mobile platforms had a diluted set of requirements, Puma’s specifications are stronger than previous mobile AMD platforms.

In order to be branded as part of the Puma platform, notebooks must come with a Griffin CPU, RS780M chipset and WiFi adapter -- a discrete graphics card is optional. Since AMD believes in offering its partners “diversity”, it chooses not to follow the route paved by Intel’s Centrino, which requires a Core 2 processor, GM965/PM965 chipset and an Intel wireless adapter to be branded as a Centrino notebook.

Currently, AMD’s Griffin processor, which is officially named Turion Ultra, is only dual core. Although there is a possibility of a quad core Griffin processor, as of right now it is not on AMD’s roadmap.

Griffin chips currently feature 1MB L2 cache per core along with support for DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 SO-DIMM memory (up to 8GB). The two cores communicate with each other via an internal crossbar switch. In addition, the CPU runs on AMD’s updated HyperTransport 3.0 specification.

In order to reduce power draw, AMD says that Griffin features three independent power planes. One power plane is given to each CPU while the third one is taken by the Northbridge. To further help promote power efficiency, AMD says each core can also run at independent frequencies. AMD claims that the cores can dynamically shift frequency levels while executing a thread.

The RS780M includes an integrated Direct X 10 graphics controller which AMD says is four to five times faster than Intel’s X3100 IGP, and brings support for HDMI and HDCP + Audio to Puma via AMD’s Universal Video Decoder. The chipset also features built-in support for two display controllers. Puma does support DisplayPort functionality; however, it is up to each individual board maker to implement in the feature.  

To help save power when running off of battery power, AMD says its PowerXpress technology dynamically switches, without any reboot, from external graphics to integrated graphics. According to the company, the change happens instantly and unnoticeably when changing power sources, however, the option is provided to disable this feature. Likewise, Hybrid Crossfire technology will allow you to use a discrete graphics controller with the integrated graphics controller for increased gaming performance.

As AMD’s answer to Intel’s Santa Rosa, analysts predict that the launch of Puma is crucial to the company’s success and financial well being.

AMD says that Puma plays a pivotal role in the period leading up to the release of its Fusion chips. According to AMD, the tighter integration of the CPU and chipset in Puma serves as a milestone to Fusion.    

AMD says that it has over 100 design wins with Puma and that systems will ship at the end of Q2. Puma-based notebooks will be included on notebooks ranging from $699 to $2,500 at launch.

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All about the features
By djc208 on 3/4/2008 11:47:43 AM , Rating: 2
Die-hards will probably (rightfully) note how the C2D chips are still going to be faster but if AMD can get all the features working, and working well, then it won't really matter.

Hell, I'd like to have the integrated/discreete graphics option on my home machine to save power. One of the reasons I went with the newer ATI graphics card is that it dynamically clocks based upon load.

Of course this assumes that their CPU is efficient enough not to eat into any savings from the other technologies. Even if it doesn't take the world by storm though, it raises the bar for Intel chipsets.




RE: All about the features
By Amiga500 on 3/4/2008 11:51:00 AM , Rating: 5
Is speed the key to laptops or is it battery life?

I for one think its starting to move to battery life, CPUs are now strong enough to do every reasonable job quite quickly. If you need to do heavy processing work, you really should be using a desktop.

If Puma can convincingly beat the Centrino on battery life - then AMD may well have the better product in my opinion - and will capture market share accordingly.


RE: All about the features
By Xerio on 3/4/2008 12:03:40 PM , Rating: 5
If battery life is more important that performance, wouldn't we all have Via CPU's in our laptops? :)

I think it is a balance, and that balance is different for everyone. If I use my laptop strictly for email, word processing, etc, then battery life would be more important to me. If I do the above, but also want to be able to play an occasional game or do some photo/video editing, performance may be more important.


RE: All about the features
By RjBass on 3/4/2008 1:14:07 PM , Rating: 4
To some battery life is the most important, however many of those people have never even heard of VIA. Intel and AMD are usually all the average consumer see's with much more emphasis on Intel. If you show someone a decent VIA powered notebook that has excellent battery life, they will most likely look at you like your crazy since there isn't a nice little Intel sticker on the case.


By StevoLincolnite on 3/4/2008 5:22:42 PM , Rating: 2
Part of the reason why I have kept my Acer for 4 years, It's got a Pentium M 1.6ghz, Might not be the fastest kid on the block, but when it's on battery mode switching it to 600mhz results in significant power savings, not to mention I have under-volted the processor, Plus on Battery the GPU clocks itself down to 90mhz core, 50mhz memory.

Then when I plug it into the AC power, I use SET FSB, And crank the chip to 2.4ghz, and overclock the Radeon 9700Pro 500/500mhz. - Thus it's all the power I need to play games like Oblivion, even Bioshock runs fine using Shadershock, and recently Unreal Tournament 3 ran perfect on low settings with a 1024x768 resolution. - Surprisingly, when overclocked it out benchmarks my Friends Core 2 Duo 1.6ghz and Mobility Radeon 2400 in 3D mark 2003.
And heat is not a big issue either, the fan hardly kicks in even when overclocked, When it's running at 600mhz if you hear the fan, you know somethings wrong :P

Apparently the chip is classed as a "Pentium 4 3.6ghz" processor. - I probably won't upgrade the old laptop, it's mainly the Movies and work on the go machine - and does that job just fine.


RE: All about the features
By MonkeyPaw on 3/4/2008 6:47:45 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
...but also want to be able to play an occasional game or do some photo/video editing, performance may be more important.


True, but when was the last time a dual core CPU was the bottleneck on a system with integrated graphics? If AMD's IGP is indeed that much faster than the X3100, then you will be much happier playing a casual game on Puma. Even then, the IGP will still be the bottleneck.


RE: All about the features
By Samus on 3/5/2008 1:05:25 AM , Rating: 2
VIA CPU's aren't taken seriously because the chipsets they're implemented with in mobile or integrated form are not mature/stable.


RE: All about the features
By eye smite on 3/4/2008 1:03:38 PM , Rating: 3
I think balance would appeal to more folks but you can plug it in and run the cpu wide open or go battery and it will drop back and run for quite sometime. I would replace my original turion laptop with this when it comes out. It's been a good laptop for me and I upgraded from a 1.8ghz turion to a 2.2ghz turion first of this year for a whopping $53. I don't ride the crest of technology, I let the wave go by and get the bargain prices. Can't blame me on that.


RE: All about the features
By MightyAA on 3/4/2008 1:13:00 PM , Rating: 2
Really depends on the user. My laptop replaced three machines: office, occassional travel notebook, and home gaming rig. It's a true portable desktop replacement, but because it needed to be powerful for some things I do with it, it's battery life isn't good. I like the idea that they are doing with the graphics.

But AMD is horrid with notebooks and paper launches. Lead times on their last round of AMD based notebooks were bad do to small stock available as well as price gouging. Add that to being much slower and more expensive than the Intel cpu's and you had a loser. The only advantage was sli which was only available with the AMD cpu.


RE: All about the features
By crystal clear on 3/4/2008 7:58:16 PM , Rating: 2
Take into consideration which O.S. you are using - WinXP or Vista.....Some consider Vista a bloated ,power hungry O.S....

As for the marketshare the price factor decides it all.


RE: All about the features
By Amiga500 on 3/4/2008 11:51:08 AM , Rating: 2
Is speed the key to laptops or is it battery life?

I for one think its starting to move to battery life, CPUs are now strong enough to do every reasonable job quite quickly. If you need to do heavy processing work, you really should be using a desktop.

If Puma can convincingly beat the Centrino on battery life - then AMD may well have the better product in my opinion - and will capture market share accordingly.


RE: All about the features
By Amiga500 on 3/4/2008 11:52:08 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry folks - not quite sure how that happened :-S


By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/4/2008 12:37:17 PM , Rating: 2
It happens from time to time, no worries.


heck yeah
By ADDAvenger on 3/4/2008 10:25:34 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
To help save power when running off of battery power, AMD says its PowerXpress technology dynamically switches, without any reboot, from external graphics to integrated graphics. According to the company, the change happens instantly and unnoticeably when changing power sources


Looks like I'm going AMD on my next laptop




RE: heck yeah
By SandmanWN on 3/4/2008 10:33:27 AM , Rating: 2
I'm personally looking forward to the 780G chipset. The reviews popping up today show it to be an excellent gaming laptop.

This one looks like an excellent travel/business laptop. The chipset division over at AMD is really hitting the nail on the head. Hopefully it will rub off on other aspects of the company, like the upcoming video revamp.


RE: heck yeah
By AlexWade on 3/4/2008 12:06:27 PM , Rating: 2
I agree with that. I've built 4 computers with the AMD 690G chipset. Other than the fact that it isn't compatible with Windows XP SP1 or earlier, it is rock-solid. Gigabyte has this chipset with HDMI out and only costs $80. For most people, AMD CPU's are good enough, making that AMD chipset the best value for a solid computer.


RE: heck yeah
By AlphaVirus on 3/4/2008 2:54:12 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I'm personally looking forward to the 780G chipset. The reviews popping up today show it to be an excellent gaming laptop.

This is why I have been watching AMD so much lately because the 780G chip + the Hybrid Crossfire = very wonderful world. I just wish AMD would release a list of all the gpu that are supported by HC.


RE: heck yeah
By Locutus465 on 3/4/2008 11:17:41 AM , Rating: 2
I can imagine this must be quite the performer. Heck, my current (low end) AMD laptop performs quite well! With the upgraded graphics/chipset and other hardware this thing is probably going to be extreamly smooth even with integrated graphics.


RE: heck yeah
By feelingshorter on 3/5/2008 2:15:18 AM , Rating: 2
Looks like they beat nvidia to it? Isnt this what nvidia was getting at?


RE: heck yeah
By winterspan on 3/7/2008 3:05:49 AM , Rating: 2
I wouldn't make that statement so soon. Nvidia already previously announced similar technology for laptops a few weeks/months ago called "HybridPower", where the chipset will automatically switch between a discrete graphics card and integrated graphics to save power/battery. google it.
Not sure if they will work with Intel for future support on Centrino, or if Intel will have their own technology that has the same effect.


??
By VoodooChicken on 3/4/2008 10:46:03 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
In order to be branded as part of the Puma platform, notebooks must come with a Griffin CPU, RS780M chipset, WiFi adapter, and also an optional discrete graphics card.


So, it's requiring an optional part? Or does this mean it needs a SLOT for discrete graphics?

I will say that ATI's Avivo has worked out a lot better for me than nVidia's PureVideo. If some ambitious system builder can whip up an affordable system with integrated Blu-ray and HDMI/DVI-D out, it will definitely be fun at parties. Plus an overall decent laptop to boot.




RE: ??
By Targon on 3/4/2008 11:06:31 AM , Rating: 2
I found that note about a slot for discrete graphics very nice. For years, people have been complaining that the vast majority of laptops are not able to get a graphics upgrade, so if all Puma laptops will have the feature to install a discrete graphics card, we may finally see a true "gamer" laptop that won't be seen as slow after only one year.


RE: ??
By MightyAA on 3/4/2008 1:28:23 PM , Rating: 2
We'll see. My notebook used the MXM standard and I did upgrade my gpu to the 7950 when it came out. Then they went and changed the standard, so my rig can't run the newest 8800M because it lacks the right chipsets and cooling. The interface standard, as well as cooling solutions are a moving target.. imagine a desktop standard that changes at least once a year. Add to this a complete lack of 3rd party gpu vendors, so you are reliant on OEM (who'd be happier selling you a new rig than upgrading).

Point being that just because it's capable of being upgraded, doesn't mean that you can. I've always wondered why they don't develop an external interface that allows you to use a desktop gpu in a real docking station.


RE: ??
By FranksAndBeans on 3/4/2008 5:32:16 PM , Rating: 2
I understand the problem of developing a laptop gpu card standard. People always reference desktops but packaging, cooling, and power are a lot more flexible in desktops. With PCI, AGP, and PCI-e, the desktop standards stayed the same. But if you tried to constrain also the packaging (card size and cooler) and also power use (higher bus power, 2nd and sometimes even 3rd power connections) all of a sudden you realize desktop cards aren't really standardized at all, despite being more flexible. You just can't ask for all those open ends in a laptop package.

Far as a desktop GPU dock is a reasonable idea, but the market is very limited. Dell has a latitude dock with a PCI (no e) slot that runs about $250 retail. Consider racking that up to PCI-e standards and also having enough juice and cooling, and all of a sudden you're talking about $400 hardware. I like the idea as much as the next guy but the costs are just prohibitive.

This hybrid crossfire system and/or disabling of the "heavy" graphics cards seems like the long term winner to me. It was even fortold by Sony trying it in some of their laptops already. Sony has a habit of pushing tech too early. I'll be happy to see this solution take off.

If AMD's next gen integrated chips run 5x faster than X3100... that's really going to shake things up a lot and make the term "budget gaming laptop" not so silly anymore. Even better it'll make Intel get off their buts and stop slinging totally abysmal graphics solutions. It drives me crazy seeing a $2,000 business class laptop that can't run small avi files smoothly in powerpoint presentations... and yet nobody seems to care or know any better.


RE: ??
By FranksAndBeans on 3/4/2008 5:32:57 PM , Rating: 2
I understand the problem of developing a laptop gpu card standard. People always reference desktops but packaging, cooling, and power are a lot more flexible in desktops. With PCI, AGP, and PCI-e, the desktop standards stayed the same. But if you tried to constrain also the packaging (card size and cooler) and also power use (higher bus power, 2nd and sometimes even 3rd power connections) all of a sudden you realize desktop cards aren't really standardized at all, despite being more flexible. You just can't ask for all those open ends in a laptop package.

Far as a desktop GPU dock is a reasonable idea, but the market is very limited. Dell has a latitude dock with a PCI (no e) slot that runs about $250 retail. Consider racking that up to PCI-e standards and also having enough juice and cooling, and all of a sudden you're talking about $400 hardware. I like the idea as much as the next guy but the costs are just prohibitive.

This hybrid crossfire system and/or disabling of the "heavy" graphics cards seems like the long term winner to me. It was even fortold by Sony trying it in some of their laptops already. Sony has a habit of pushing tech too early. I'll be happy to see this solution take off.

If AMD's next gen integrated chips run 5x faster than X3100... that's really going to shake things up a lot and make the term "budget gaming laptop" not so silly anymore. Even better it'll make Intel get off their buts and stop slinging totally abysmal graphics solutions. It drives me crazy seeing a $2,000 business class laptop that can't run small avi files smoothly in powerpoint presentations... and yet nobody seems to care or know any better.


Puma?
By Xerio on 3/4/2008 11:57:55 AM , Rating: 3
Puma? I think it looks more like a Warthog! :)




RE: Puma?
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/4/2008 12:38:13 PM , Rating: 2
Excellent RvB reference.


RE: Puma?
By Xerio on 3/4/2008 12:44:41 PM , Rating: 2
I could not resist the urge. The best machinima ever (I haven't seen much, but RvB is pretty good)!


RE: Puma?
By Webreviews on 3/4/2008 10:01:10 PM , Rating: 2
Great riff on the ref...


A SantaRosa competition?
By vignyan on 3/5/2008 1:10:47 PM , Rating: 2
If i am not mis-informed, Cantiga based Montevinna w/ Penryn is launching in 5 weeks from now... And AMD is comparing Puma with a year old SantaRosa? Bummer!

Anyways, if you really think about it, the dynamic switching of gfx from external to internal makes little sense. Whats the BIG difference b/w say 8600M versus a X3100? (except for the fact that X3100 kicks 8600M's ass in video performance!) Both the gfx performance suck for BIG games. And Lappys are not for gaming anyways.. ok..Let me rephrase that... For the majority, its not for gaming... I use my good ol desktop for gaming and prefer that screen and control as compared to my laptop! :)...

Upcoming Cantiga has it all... 3 Display ports (2 normal and 1 eDP for connecting lvds pannels) w/ HDCP, 8ch audio enabled HDMI port w/ HDCP (2 ports)... approx 2x gfx published performance numbers (not iffy!) versus Santarosa... MPEG2 VLD, H.264 AVC, MPEG4 VC1 decoders for HD Video decode... PAVP... dual channel DDR3 1066 ... FSB 1333... Clear video... DPST4... 65nm... The hybrid gfx thingy was a bit interesting w/ Puma... But its like boasting a 2GB 9600GT card by MSI at CeBit... LOL!! :)

Penryn is another important factor in the whole Montevina platform. 45nm, low power, higher clock, higher performance... Need to compare the Turion ULTRA w/ penryn's Lowest end processor... C'mon.. its only fair! ok..ok.. Turion ULTRA w/ Core2 price equivalent is the correct comparision! :D ... not a penryn... Penryn has inherent power savings advantage over Turion coz of the 45nm.

With all this said, I do like the name Puma... Endangered and still chasing Centrino pro/duo Prey to live... :)
Good Job AMD.




RE: A SantaRosa competition?
By TheJian on 3/6/2008 11:07:34 PM , Rating: 2
LOL @ 2x performance of crappy IGP on santarosa is good? IT's still FAR slower than AMD's IGP. That's might catch the 690G but NOT the 780G. Sorry.

You found the upgradeable laptop graphics interesting? That's it? You can take your Intel IGP and keep it. I'll take graphics I can add performance too ANY DAY! Your's can't change. How's that good when your gpu sucks to begin with?

Laptops not good for gaming? I have a 6800ultra in mine it runs just about anything I throw at it in 1440x900 native. My card sucks compared to whats available now (it's 3yrs old). Intel's is still %20 behind AMD's OLD x1250: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3117&p=7
How much is that now? Dynamic switching makes a TON of sense. When I'm in 2D turn off my power hungry gpu. When I game kick in the GPU. Get it? Jeez.

Can I buy Cantiga? Before AMD's 780? Is the penryn mobile out yet? Why would you expect anyone to compare their new product to something that they can't know the performance of? If I can't benchmark it how can I compare my new product to it?

Pull your head out of Intels a$$ for a minute and think about that.


RE: A SantaRosa competition?
By TheJian on 3/6/2008 11:36:57 PM , Rating: 2
Just checked. I guess you can buy penryn now. Last I checked it wasn't in a Dell.


Is it really a launch
By crystal clear on 3/5/2008 3:22:22 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
AMD today paper launched its Puma platform in a press event streamed live over the web. Puma is AMD’s third-generation mobile platform based on AMD’s Griffin processor and RS780M chipset.


Paper launches are as good as NO launch at all & given the negative creditability of AMD to delivery on time & half finished products(Barcelona/Phenom).

Time to market drives them to disasters that ultimately hurts not only their creditability/reputation, but their sales/revenues/profits also.

I just happened to scan through AMD press releases -see below.

Press Releases

March 4, 2008 AMD 780 Series Gives Mainstream PCs an Innovation Overhaul: Robust 3D Gaming, Ultimate Blu-ray™ Experience and Energy Efficiency

March 4, 2008 AMD Demos 45nm Native Quad-Core Processors for Server, Desktop

March 4, 2008 AMD Takes the Ultimate Visual Experience™ in PC Gaming to New Heights with CrossFireX™


http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo...

No mention or press release of this platform !!!!!

Just to announce their precense in the said market is not enough with no products to match it,is a waste of time.

As for the roadmaps they are not to be believed nor used as an indicators for the future.

Rule 1-Stick to your roadmaps & your time schedules !

thats what INTEL does....strictly by their roadmaps & delivers on time.




RE: Is it really a launch
By TheJian on 3/6/2008 10:41:33 PM , Rating: 2
You trying to tell me Intel has never been late? How about a few products that should have been late? Product recalls come to mind. I think Intel has 5 in the last 7 years or so while AMD has a partial 1. Also, if AMD paper launched today (how much is Intel paying anandtech/DT for this garbage...Look at the E8500 review...Talk about ANTI OCing/major Intel love), then did Intel paper launch the E8000 series? Don't they paper launch constantly by handing out review samples way before launch, making us all wait on something instead of buying AMD? The E8400/E8500 was paper launched a month ago. Newegg sold them 3-4 weeks ago. Reviews were done everywhere weeks ago. Can I buy one now? NOPE. Well I don't call $270 for a chip that was going for $209 2 weeks ago a good deal. They restricted chips. That's a paper launch too.

Half finished products? So the mighty Intel never had a Caminogate (820 chipset)? They didn't recall a bunch of P4 3.73 extreme edition chips? Didn't they have to recall a 1.13ghz P3? Didn't they have to recall a bunch of 915/925 chipset boards? Didn't companies have to recall notebooks because of flaws in Intel's wireless drivers in Aug 2006?...Should I keep going? Didn't RDRAM suck? They chose it...LOL. Intel sticks to their roadmaps, and just ends up RECALLING tons of stuff. Who's better? The guy who is late, or the guy who keeps delaying to get it right?

Just google "Intel product recalls" without the quotes...Welcome to the wonderful world of FANTASY LAND my friend. Don't get me wrong, Intel currently has my money, and soon my dads as I upgrade and he buys my chip. But pull your head out of their butt please. They've made so many blunders in the last 7 years it's ridiculous.

If I scanned through Intel press releases I'd see the same marketing crap. AMD screwed up phenom/barcy. So what, you got a list as long as the one I just came up with?


RE: Is it really a launch
By crystal clear on 3/7/2008 7:34:46 AM , Rating: 2
After reading through your response with all due respect to you & your opinions.

I am of the opinion-

"I like the dream of the future better than the history of the past."


Wish I had the time to give you a detailed response.


Griffin
By Discord on 3/4/2008 11:55:44 AM , Rating: 1
Unfortunately, the Griffin CPU is still based on the Athlon 64 and will not bring anything impressive to the performance table. While a great rework of the older generation to improve energy efficiency I'm betting that the Intel solutions will handedly defeat it in most power/performance comparisons.
The new AMD 780 board might be a big wild card in this equation though.




RE: Griffin
By srp49ers on 3/4/2008 2:51:30 PM , Rating: 2
They are increasing L2 cache size to 1mb, right?

So, that should give a small performance boost over current Turions.


RE: Griffin
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 3/4/2008 3:50:47 PM , Rating: 2
Doubt it. There was no real performance advantage beyond 512k on AMD chips due to the already fast speed of the HyperTransport pipe. Only Intel can get away with this due to the slower timings of BUS, which they compensate for by increasing chip cache and using smart prefetching.


Really now...
By Goty on 3/4/2008 10:54:57 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Since AMD believes in offering its partners “diversity”, it chooses not to follow the route paved by Intel’s Centrino, which requires a Core 2 processor, GM965/PM965 chipset and an Intel wireless adapter to be branded as a Centrino notebook.


Well, AMD could hardly do this, now could they, since they don't MAKE wireless NIC chips.




RE: Really now...
By lagitup on 3/4/2008 11:03:25 AM , Rating: 2
But if you think about it, wireless NICs must be a piece of cake compared to processors. Anyway, you know you would laugh if they had an intel NIC on a puma laptop...


Battery life AND performance/$
By gochichi on 3/4/2008 2:31:31 PM , Rating: 2
To me performance is a huge issue. While I can see myself satisfied with a X-amount of battery life, I don't see myself as ever satiating my thirst for performance. Riding the amount of information that is constantly increasing takes performance that is constantly increasing.

With battery life, it's a different story. My day is 24 hours long, always has been. Going below 3 hours of battery life is not something I'd voluntarily opt for. 3 hours is my minimum, and past 5 hours I really don't care so much anymore. I am sure that once they reach 10 hour battery life nobody will care beyond that point. Performance on the other hand will always be a prominent desire for me, and the industry at large because so much more is possible with computers than we have seen. Battery of 3+ hours will be a must, but weight and performance (and price, definitely) will be focal.

I currently use a 12" Dell that lasts 4.5 hours per battery (I have 2) with full brightness. Maybe I feel the way I do because I can use the laptop 9 hours without plugging it in. Yet the single core performance, slow hard drive, screen size (and quality), and weight I'm not so satisfied with.

I always feared that AMD had poor performing battery life. So when Puma comes out hopefully I will get some more concrete data on this. I would consider anything with 3+ hours, and then the best performance/$.

I can't stress enough how much battery past a decent amount is not a big deal to many people. Heck, look at how many people buy laptops with 1 hour battery life... I would say most people get below 2 hours.




By AlphaVirus on 3/4/2008 3:09:02 PM , Rating: 2
Your first 2 paragraphs seem to be all opinions. Some people barely use their laptop, at most 30min, while others can use it in upwards 8 hours straight.

quote:
I currently use a 12" Dell that lasts 4.5 hours per battery (I have 2) with full brightness. Maybe I feel the way I do because I can use the laptop 9 hours without plugging it in. Yet the single core performance, slow hard drive, screen size (and quality), and weight I'm not so satisfied with.

Sounds like you are using quite an old laptop, I havent seen a single-core on sale since early last year.

quote:
I always feared that AMD had poor performing battery life. So when Puma comes out hopefully I will get some more concrete data on this. I would consider anything with 3+ hours, and then the best performance/$.

Sounds like you have never used an AMD laptop. If you would consider anything with more than 3 hours, just buy a higher capacity battery. I think most only come with 6 cells so just get anything that is compatibly higher.

quote:
Heck, look at how many people buy laptops with 1 hour battery life... I would say most people get below 2 hours.

Once again, these must be laptops from a few years ago. I spent $300 on an HP laptop (Sempron, 1Gig ram) and I could get 2.5 hours playing simple games or movies. I bought that laptop in 2002.


Sounds a bit fishy to me
By Carter642 on 3/4/2008 12:15:36 PM , Rating: 2

In order to be branded as part of the Puma platform, notebooks must come with a Griffin CPU, RS780M chipset and WiFi adapter -- a discrete graphics card is optional.

So basically any new AMD powered laptop will get the "Puma" label regardless of actually implementing the cool new videocard switching technology? I realize that laptops with discrete 3D solutions are a growing trend but they are still a tiny minority compared to integrated only solutions.

To me this video card switching tech seems to be aimed at high end, expensive, PC replacement laptops that spend the vast majority of their lives plugged in making the whole switching thing a little less impressive.

This really just seems like an excuse for AMD to counter all of Intel's centrino stickers with it's own puma stickers with one marginally useful technology thrown in on the side.




By mWMA on 3/4/2008 12:31:46 PM , Rating: 2
If you are in the market for cheap IGP laptop.. (most laptop with X3100 or x1250) now you might end up with HD3200 instead with some impressive HD decoding capability. I guess that why the PUMA makes sense... you have on board graphics that can handle very well most of HD and other tasks without a problem while only taking small sips of battery power and removing a huge amount of load of the CPU at the same time. For higher end laptop you get ability to switch to the dedicated on the fly when you plug in power and play with the performance combination of on board + dedicated card.




Picture
By Meaker10 on 3/4/2008 5:09:46 PM , Rating: 2
So should have been a picture of the warthog from Halo (RvB)




Translate & read it
By crystal clear on 3/4/2008 8:13:54 PM , Rating: 2
This german language site has something interesting-

Neue Roadmap für AMDs Notebook-Prozessoren
27. Februar 2008, 11:16

http://www.computerbase.de/news/hardware/prozessor...




bring it
By Visual on 3/5/2008 8:04:01 AM , Rating: 2
This is really good news. I like that we'll finally get a somewhat decent integrated graphic card - though it's still quite slow. Intel's next IGP is supposed to be twice as fast as the current one, if AMD can give four times faster it wins on this front.

The best feature of all is the ability to switch between integrated and discrete graphic cards though. With this ability, the 3d performance of the integrated card becomes quite irrelevant - and I won't mind it even be reduced instead of the promised 4x increase, if it helped battery life.
This is also a feature of the new nVidia chipsets from what I heard - but considering the Centrino brand requires an Intel chipset, it's not clear if we'll see them in any Intel laptops soon.

This great feature gives me hope that I'll finally see a really high-performing laptop (or even better, a tablet convertible) that also happens to have very good battery life when its performance is not being utilized. Until now, all good performance laptops I've read about lasted very poorly even when not playing 3d games.




amd and their cool names
By tastyratz on 3/5/2008 9:54:06 AM , Rating: 2
I for one have to say that AMD seems to have the most badass names for their products. Based purely on a marketing perspective names like spider, puma, black edition, thunderbird, athlon... They all sound exotic. The way they are marketed makes them sound fierce,like a force to be reckoned with. I give them credit for that and I am sure it helps sales.
Intel has only had 2 items one that sounded fierce lately- Ones extreme edition which is priced well out of the range of the majority of buyers, and the others skulltrain - doesn't really matter though because there's nothing mainstream about it and it will probably go the way of the dodo swiftly. Centrino? just sounds wimpy.

If you were a consumer ignorant to all technical knowledge and were faced with 2 computers both with the same price and the only difference you could see was the name - I bet more people would pick the exotic sounding name thinking that machine will have some sort of exotic edge.
The only thing standing in the way of that right now is name brand recognition.




By cyyc009 on 3/4/2008 12:18:26 PM , Rating: 1
...the question becomes, can they live up to it? We all know what Phenom did to us hopefuls...




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