AMD's Vision to Make Branding Notebooks Simpler
AMD Vision to simplify notebook branding.
Besides just launching new mobile platforms today, AMD is also bringing out a new branding scheme that hopes to simplify the computer buying experience for the mainstream consumer.
While the Tom's Hardware reader will understand the difference in notebook capabilities down to GHz, cores, cache, and GPU type, the casual shopper doesn't have much else to rely on other than immediately evaluable traits such as screen size and other outward appearances. AMD hopes to change this by bringing in a type of branding that speaks to the buyer in a good, better, best format.
Following the launch of Windows 7 and the launch of the new mobile platforms, AMD-powered systems – that is, those with both AMD CPU and ATI GPU – will be branded as Vision technology.
"Today’s consumer cares about what they can do with their PC, not what’s inside," said Nigel Dessau, CMO of AMD. "They want a rich HD and entertainment experience on their PC, delivered by the combined technology of AMD CPUs and GPUs, without having to understand what gigahertz and gigabytes mean. Vision technology from AMD reflects the maturation of marketing in the PC processing industry and communicates the technology in a more meaningful way."
AMD is adopting a naming system that we've heard before attached to Windows SKUs. Three initial tiers will hit notebooks: Vision Basic, Vision Premium and Vision Ultimate.
Vision Basic will be aligned with the idea of users being able to "See" content mainly presented via the web. Vision Premium adds the idea of being to "Share" content with greater focus of video media. Vision Ultimate brings in 3D gaming and video and music editing.
Later, in the first quarter of 2010, AMD plans to introduce a fourth level, Vision Black for an even higher tier of performance – typically sought after by enthusiasts and gamers.




There are enough cases of misleading information on product out there already (vista capable anyone?) so lets hope AMD do this right
There are enough cases of misleading information on product out there already (vista capable anyone?) so lets hope AMD do this right
I can see those being the main source of inaccuracies. I'd tend to trust something that had AMD behind the certification at this point. They have a lot more to lose by misleading people on this right now. Being the underdog (which they definitely still are compared to Intel) you can't afford the negative PR from an apparent attempt to mislead the consumer.
According to the chart, the "Ultimate" systems use less power ("Long Active Battery Life") than the basic ones. If anything, they just have more battery cells. Using the same battery, though, better graphics cards typically use more power. Seems rather misleading... =/
AMD is a minority in the notebook business.
AMD is a none-entity in the netbook business.
Your right, they can't honestly tell consumers that gaming laptops have good battery life.
No, you're both wrong. You're saying that surfing the internet on a slower machine vs. gaming on a high-end laptop is an apples-to-apples comparison, and it's not. The battery might drain even faster on the basic laptop if you actually tried to game on it, whereas the high-end might have more performance per watt and a bigger battery, so superior battery life when doing the same activities. I hope AMD's marketing department thought this out more than you guys just did.
But anyways, I hope this marketing works for them. I would like to see them become more equal with Intel. Intel is starting to get to the point where they can charge whatever prices they want with Laptop CPU's
I don't think they're 'gaming' laptops.
Well, yes and no. It was their poor marketing that killed AMD when they had the better products pre-Core 2. So I am glad they are marketing. But yeah, their mobile platform leaves something to be desired on their 2+ ghz dual cores, even with Dragon.
We know AMD's graphics card can do just about anything in 1280x800 or similar resolution. Gaming, video,...
Most people use something like 1600x1024 monitors at most, or go for a dual monitor setup.
Generally the users who don't know anything about computers are also the ones who don't need to know anything about the insides! They mail, work in office, and occasionally want to watch a bluetooth movie, which works on any computer with bluetooth save some atom or ARM powered netbooks.
The gamer will be aware of what he needs, as well as the professional who needs a card for 3D rendering, or encoding. Their knowledge far surpasses these basic charts, so the question is:
"For who did they create this chart?"
I don't think I know anybody that uses 1600x1024