As I’m sure you know, Intel are the kings of the netbook processor. Multiple variations of their Atom processor are found in 95% or so of all current and previous netbooks.
We are starting to see a few more netbook models on the market which make use of AMD’s hardware (E.g Acer Aspire One 521), but they are still very few and far between.
AMD are now looking to gain more of the netbook market share with their new AMD Ontario processor.
The new low power chip has been built with 40nm technology, and have been developed and targeted especially for netbooks.
It uses the low-power Bobcat core which features integrated DirectX 11 graphics, so we can expect to see better graphics performance than with the standard Intel Atom graphics (GMA 3150).
AMD Ontario
The Ontario CPU is scheduled to be released in the last quarter of this year, so netbook builders should get their hands on it before the year end. So all being well, we can expect to see an increased number of AMD powered netbooks on the market.
I’m sure it will take sometime for AMD to claw back some of the netbook market, but it’s always good to see some more competition in the market to drive things forwards, or prices down.
Update: An Ontario benchmark has been leaked at Hardware Infos, which sees the chip (CPU & GPU) going against the Intel Atom D510 and two other AMD chips.
Ontario Benchmark
The Ontario processor is clocked between 1.4GHz and 1.6GHz and manages to perform nearly twice as fast as the Atom D510. The Ontario uses 18W, where as the D510 uses 13W, so overall the Ontario has more performance per watt.
Via NetbookNews
July 26th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Despite the many netbooks with Intel processors that are on the market it is still possible to find AMD making there presence known. For instance the Acer Ferrari ONE carries the AMD VISION and comes with some great specs too.
March 5th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Interesting article, I recently bought an Acer Notebook with thee Ontario C-50 Dual Core processor with integrated ATI HD6250 graphics chip and it seems to do well. It runs on 9W of power, 1066 Mhz RAM to 8GB, and comes in a 15.6″ LED Backlit display and full keyboard.
Do you have any information on the performance of this C-50 Ontario Chip compared to say the AMD TF-20 or Turion Series AMD chips vs. Intel Atom and Dual Core Pentium’s? It would be interesting to see the differences as I believe this laptop was a response to the Netbook market where one wants a larger screen than a 10.1″ unit which is standard for Netbooks.