Lenovo Launches ThinkPad With AMD Zacate APU

[Marcus Yam]

A new generation of netbook?

Lenovo Launches ThinkPad With AMD Zacate APU : Read more

 

[Parsian]

under 400 is an ION KILLER.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I see that thing becoming a popular "executive laptop". A long time ago when I used to be an on-site tech, executives received a Centrino-based ultra-thin laptop, those things were so crap that it was mind boggling. Underwhelming Intel CPU + underwhelming Intel GPU + underwhelming P.O.S. small form-factor HDD is a lethal combination...

 

[joytech22]

There goes Intel's ATOM unless you prefer an extra 30 minutes of battery life over a billion times performance.

Oh and ION, which is ATOM + GPU anyway.

 

[house70]

this is very good news... I might get one soon.

 

[arlandi]

me like!

May have to hold purchasing a new portable (netbook/notebook whatever) until this thing arrive. but may be hard to find in certain countries, like mine...

 

[sonofliberty08]

[citation][nom]arlandi[/nom]me like!May have to hold purchasing a new portable (netbook/notebook whatever) until this thing arrive. but may be hard to find in certain countries, like mine...[/citation]
u can get it online

 

[liveonc]

I've got an x100e, I like it. I wished though that the 3G was 4G or mini PCIe SSD, UEFI instead of BIOS, came with Windows 7 64bit instead of Windows 7 32bit & still under $400... ;-)

 

[dimar]

Awesome. Might get 10" when comes out.

 

[Guest]

I will never buy a LeNONO piece of garbage!

 

[dogman_1234]

Allriiight!

Way to go AMD. Let it be great with Bulldozer

"Bulldoze that Sandy Bridge guys!"

 

[fstrthnu]

Intel really should find a way to get something close to their HD 3000 GPUs on the new Sandy Bridge CPUs to the next-generation Atom units (or whatever the next generation is going to be called). Intel's going to be totally swamped in the netbook/mini-computer market unless they can give us mini-Sandy Bridge soon.

 

[marciocattini]

trully remarkable product by amd has come up with
I hope the mainstream counterpart manages to get amd back into the competition with intel.

 

[WR2]

PCMark Vantage comparison
AMD E-350 Zacate roughly equal to Core Duo U2500 or Athlon II Neo K325
AMD E-240 Zacate roughly equal to Atom Z550 or Celeron M 743 and a bit better than Athlon Neo MV-40

 

[Nintendork]

And this is just a prelude, Krishna and Wichita 28nm APU's will come quickly after this (Q4 2011 / Q1 2012, 2-4 cores flavors, even better gpu, leaving intel HD3000 like a pathetic joke or give Llano a run for it's money). Seems Fusion is starting to roll on.

 

[vaughn2k]

... and MSI's U270 also running 'Zacate' APU

 

[hannibal]

Well SB is for completely different platform. This is mainly Atom alternative.

 

[COLGeek]

I see one of these in my future. Maybe not this particular model, but I can definitely see the weight/cost/performance benefits. AMD has the potential to change the netbook (and potentially tablet) market here. This is good stuff for consumers.

 

[nforce4max]

Finally as it took them long enough and this is perfect for tablets as well.

 

[mados123]

I am very happy for AMD's latest accomplishment and this will be very good for HD videos and gaming. Currently, the way this can't compare with ION systems is that it doesn't have GPU/CUDA encoding abilities like the ION's CUDA compatibilities. CUDA offloading is an excellent way to encode video at high speed levels that CPUs (especially low power ones) can't. Although AMD's products can do GPU video encoding, its execution of it has been seen as poor in the past and not many third-party apps are out there that support it. Checkout the excellent "Freemake Video Converter" which as the name implies is free. It utilizes GPU/CUDA encoding like Badaboom does (but develop on Badaboom) has stopped recently. Freemake's "Video Downloader" also integrates with your browsers to download for offline viewing. I hope AMD improves its GPU parallel processing abilities.

 

[falchard]

Wow, I didn't imagine they would sell it that cheap. Just Wow. A sub $500 laptop that can run HD Movies and play 80% of PC Games while having a long battery life.

 

[favst89]

This is pretty much what I've been waiting for, cheaper than the intel versions but still with performance and battery life. I've only had thinkpad laptops before while my almost 6year old is still going strong something smaller (and lighter) would be nice. Though I would prefer it in the x200 chassis with the different keyboard and a roll cage.

 

[LordConrad]

Will Lenovo ever get rid of those stupid "eraser mice"?

 

[dallaswits]

I only buy think pads because i Love that "eraser mouse", so i sure hope not.

 

[Guest]

When AMD bought out ATI years ago people were obviously perturbed by it claiming AMD was hemorrhaging money from the merger. Who'd have thought they were thinking far enough into the future that they'd planned to be the top dog of APU's. The Zacate has low processing power but its graphics are unbelievable for the size, frequency, and price. It's AMD's first generation of APU so naturally it'd be a little sluggish with room for improvement, but if there is one thing AMD excels at it's improving their architectures over time. I can't wait to see an AMD APU on the 28nm architecture.