AMD Notebook Market Share to Reach 15%

AMD Notebook Market Share to Reach 15%

A DigiTimes report claims that AMD's share of the notebook market is expected to increase to 15% by the end of 2010. The increase comes largely from the introduction of "ultra thin" notebooks featuring lower-powered processors, which are themselves expected to account for 15% of global notebook shipments in the first half of this year. Acer currently has a majority share of the ultra thin notebook market (70%) according to the report, though they still make up less than 10% of the company's total notebook shipments.

Top-tier notebook vendors including HP, Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI have introduced ultra thin notebooks based on AMD's Congo platform. The Congo platform includes the Athlon Neo/Neo X2 processor and the Turion Neo/Neo X2 processor coupled with the RS780 chipset. Notebooks based on the platform can be found for around US$500. Examples of Congo-based notebooks include the HP Pavilion dm3, Lenovo ThinkPad X100e, and ASUS Eee PC 1201T.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

 

Good job AMD. I like the integrated graphics that come with them... At least they're worth something (cough unlike Intel cough).

 

AMD's road towards greater market share still looks bumpy.....though I'm not sure how much lower Intel can afford to drop it's price(s) before an executive or 2 starts to wince.....

 

My thoughts exactly. When people my age (college students, all of whom play video games at least occationally) ask me what to look for in a cheap laptop, I often recommend finding ones with AMD processors, simply because there's no way that they can end up with a graphics chip that's complete crap.

. . . Unless they get the Radeon X1270 like me. That thing is garbage. Still better than Intel GMA though.

 

Pretty narrow way of looking at things. What's wrong the the Intel's X4500? You honestly gonna game seriously on a thin-and-light? Or do hard-core video editing?

No wait, my bad. Playing CoD4:MW2 on minimum settings with the crappy ATI/Nvidia discrete graphics on a thin-and-light is so much better. Who cares about cutting battery life in half? When you're carrying a thin-and-light, you can afford to carry around that extra car battery for all-day computing.

 

There's nothing wrong with Intel 4500 graphics for non-3D application users (gamers). I have had a dedicated graphics card in every notebook/desktop I have owned up until this point; now I have an HP with the Intel GFX and have not noticed any side effects (other than better battery life ).

 

Even for old games like the ones I play, an Intel IGP just won't cut it. They're designed to handle the GUI and that's it. Oh, and a tiny bit of video decoding. Now, for some, that's all they need, and that's fine, because there is a battery life benefit. But some of us need at least some 3D capability, and in that situation Intels just don't cut it. I've tried before...I'd rather have a Voodoo3 soldered onto the motherboard. Or maybe a GeForce 2 MX. I'd ALMOST take an SiS IGP over Intel.... almost

Intel might have to shape up though. AMD's Neos seem to have found a new sweet spot, and I'm thinking that's partially due to the IGP. Which means as long as Intel stays married to their GMAs they're going to be at a disadvantage.

Of course, they could always make like AMD, and buy NVIDIA. Which might not be the worst idea in the world when you get down to it, and it sure helped AMD, especially from the chipset and IGP viewpoint. I don't think they'd be becoming as competitive now without in-house chipsets, including a reasonably decent IGP.

 

The X4500 is fine for light gaming playing old games. The new HD IGP from Intel will also be fine. People have been running WoW on the GMA950 that's married to the first generation Atom since the dawn of time.

Don't get me wrong, discrete graphics have their merits and to have integrated ATI/Nvidia graphics is even better. But those who crap on the X4500 because it can't run games are completely missing the point.

To most people, laptops are tools of productivity first, gaming second. And a distant one at that.

 

The IGP on Arrandale is actually decent. It uses very little power compared to Nvidia and ATI's IGPs. It even plays 1080p video.

 

IGPs are going to be doing a lot more important things than just graphics and game performance going forward. GPGPU, DirectCompute, and even CUDA are great ways to add a significant performance boost to the low power CPUs typically found in ultra-thins and netbooks.

Neo should hopefully be picking up at least an HD4200 this year and while Arrandale's 25W and 35W CPUs can match that IGP performance their ULV IGPs are downclocked and won't match ATI's chipset in the sub-12 market.

In 2011 AMD should gain an even bigger advantage as all their Fusion APUs are rumored to support DX11.

 

Ooh, I did forget about the GPGPU stuff....I wonder where Intel is with integrating that into their IGPs...

 

Intel to Introduce GPGPU Functions Into Westmere

 

Well, I broke down and ordered the Satellite T115D today. It should get here tomorrow. The Toshiba site said that it had a dual core Neo, but now I'm beginning to think the one I have arriving will have the single core - in which case it will go back in exchange for the dual core.

In any case, it's an 11.6 with the HD 3200. I'm highly allergic to Intel graphics. I've tried them, including the 4500mhd, and it does not cut it for me. Wow will "run" with the 4500mhd and the GMA 950...until you get to Dalaran.

The 4500mhd is unquestionably better than it's predecessors, but that's not saying much. The GPU is quickly becoming a much more important part of the computing experience, and I can't knowingly buy something that is crippled out of the gate.

 

Something that might be very interesting in the future is to take a task that one would offload to the GPGPU, and benchmark it running on the GPU versus the CPU. Throw in all the current IGPs for good measure. The results could be interesting.

 

Nvidia did this with video encoding benchmarks when they were flaunting ION over the Atom.

 

AMD notebooks have been quite inferior to Intel in battery life which is a major selling point esp for thin & light notebooks. Definitely not a fan of AMD - don't care who's the underdog; whoever provides the product gets the money.

 

Yeah, but that's NVIDIA, and they're just selling ION. I'd like to see it with the ATI 4200, the New Intel non-GMA GMA (I forget the number but they dropped GMA) and NVIDIA's IGP. Compared to Core2Duo, Core i5, and Turion II, not just Atom. (Throw Neo in there too, since they're going to tout the ATI IGP there).

That's something an independent site really has to do because anything from the manufacturers is going to be biased.

 

Neo will be getting a die shrink sometime in Q2 this year that will bring it's battery life up and it's heat down.

 

Not to mention that Neo's processing power is better than Intel's CULV, and coupled with the better IGP or GPU (DM3z) it has a better chance of being an all-around thin-and-light laptop.

Intel has it more segmented as in "it is either battery life and low performance or is is performance and regular battery life or high performance and no battery". CULV is very rarely coupled with a GPU, so it is battery only and low performance in comparison. The goes the T and P or i5 which are performance and regular battery life and then comes X and Q or i7 which are high performance and low battery. This is over simplifying, but you get my point.

 

I got my Toshiba T115D today with the HD 3200 and single core Neo (it's going back in exchange for the dual core - it was advertised as dual core). I'm not an expert on battery life, but it lasted 3.5 hours simultaneously installing a few things across wifi and watching a .264 movie (300) across the network. It was at 20% when I plugged it in. Flash 10.1 and youtube HD full screen was perfect.

The reason that I plugged it in is because I didn't want to lose my game in the middle of it. I was playing Mass Effect. Can you play that on an Intel 4500mhd? You may not *want* to, but I did, and the best part is that I *could* with the AMD/HD3200 combo. With the dual channel RAM kit that I have (it's in single channel right now) waiting to go in the one I keep and the dual-core, I expect it to be even more pleasant .

 

A AMD Turion II Neo coupled with a powersaving ATI igp with Dx11 would be awesome.

 

Ohh, that does sounds pretty sweet. i might have to check that or the Thinkpad x100e out. I like my 15.6 inch main machine, but sometimes I want something smaller. And Atoms just don't have enough horsepower for me.

 

I almost jumped on the Thinkpad x100e, but I had a few nitpicks with it in regard to ergonomics (trackpad buttons at the edge that may click if you hold it wrong, and the protruding battery).

I'm glad I waited for the Toshiba, but that isn't to say the Lenovo isn't a good choice, too, I haven't physically held one, so I don't know.

I do know that Acer 1410 vs. Toshiba T115D in my opinion is not even a contest. The Tosh, and the Congo platform, is superior in everything but battery life, but battery life is not bad on the Congo, either. I'd imagine that performance wise, the x100e is pretty identical. My nitpicks with the x100e are entirely subjective and maybe a positive for someone else, and the Lenovo may have something that the Toshiba doesn't (pointing stick)