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AMD Sees Little Future in Ultrabooks

By - Source: X-bit Labs | B 33 comments

AMD doesn't see much hope in the ultrabook's success in a market dominated by Apple's MacBook series.

In speaking with X-bit labs, John Taylor, the director of client product marketing and software at AMD, indicated that Intel's ultrabook initiative won't be an imminent success. Despite its high expectations, the rival company will likely have a hard time competing in a mobile market dominated by Apple's super-slim and super-powerful MacBook series.

"We have to wait and see when the actual thing comes to market and when Windows 8 comes to market and how does the final product [ultrabook hardware and Windows 8 software] look like as a $1000/€1000 type device," he said. "And how will it compete against already successful Apple MacBook Air. [...] The $1000+/€1000+ PC market is completely dominated by Apple."

He also pointed out that many of the promised features in the upcoming ultrabook form factor are based on Windows 8. Eventually those seemingly exclusive features will migrate beyond ultrabooks and into mainstream systems.

"Windows 8 brings a number of capabilities that Intel would seem to be collecting under the banner of ultrabook," he added. "As well, there are a few things that they are doing with higher-end components that they are looking at that enable faster wake and sleep and this type of capabilities [in Windows 8]."

Obviously AMD isn't taking an ultrabook-like route to address the highly-responsive and highly-portable sub-$1000 laptop market. Instead, it's taking the silicon route.

"We have been on the market with our ultra-thin strategy for some time," he said. "We have always believed there was a sweet spot in the market: the extreme sort of portability with beautiful aesthetic and very thin designs. […] We have Llano silicon solution today that delivers as good or better battery life than Intel and better all around visual experience. […] The Brazos platform [for low-cost systems] has been a runaway success for AMD."

He wouldn't go into any specifics about the upcoming "Trinity" APU, only stating that it's a "step up" in x86 performance, graphics performance and in some areas around video.

"I don't want to get too specific about our 2012 roadmaps, but we have two different types of APUs that we can bring to that ultra-thin market as we move forward to their introduction next year," he said.

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  • 24 Hide
    poxenium , October 5, 2011 11:20 AM
    I have to agree with the idea that there's no bright future for ultrabooks. They have no extra features when compared to netbooks, just a bit more horsepower. I don't see why someone would need an expensive thin laptop without an optical drive and more importantly without a proper graphics processor. It looks good, OK, i see the point ... but it would look the same with a nice cheap Atom processor or AMD APU too.
  • 21 Hide
    tanjo , October 5, 2011 11:38 AM
    Shut up and
    SHOW ME THE BULLDOZER.
  • 11 Hide
    billybobser , October 5, 2011 11:36 AM
    Title is slightly misleading.

    Sounds like AMD do want to add performance to a thin form factor, they want to price it in a large audience however.

    Though my opinion on this is, if you want a highly portable laptop, the best you're gonna want is internet/word processing.

    If you want to do graphic design/gaming, you're going to have to forgoe the slimline and battery life approach, and will most likely need to be plugged in (ugly adapter!)

    Currently, without using a discreet gfx card (obviously chews up space), AMD have the lead graphically with Llano chips.

    One last thing, gaming and apple, lul.
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  • 24 Hide
    poxenium , October 5, 2011 11:20 AM
    I have to agree with the idea that there's no bright future for ultrabooks. They have no extra features when compared to netbooks, just a bit more horsepower. I don't see why someone would need an expensive thin laptop without an optical drive and more importantly without a proper graphics processor. It looks good, OK, i see the point ... but it would look the same with a nice cheap Atom processor or AMD APU too.
  • 11 Hide
    billybobser , October 5, 2011 11:36 AM
    Title is slightly misleading.

    Sounds like AMD do want to add performance to a thin form factor, they want to price it in a large audience however.

    Though my opinion on this is, if you want a highly portable laptop, the best you're gonna want is internet/word processing.

    If you want to do graphic design/gaming, you're going to have to forgoe the slimline and battery life approach, and will most likely need to be plugged in (ugly adapter!)

    Currently, without using a discreet gfx card (obviously chews up space), AMD have the lead graphically with Llano chips.

    One last thing, gaming and apple, lul.
  • 6 Hide
    ZEPd3Z , October 5, 2011 11:38 AM
    Maybe they should look into a standard laptop form factor (ATX, mATX etc...) like the on desktops and also Upgradable Mobo, CPU, GPU. Now that would be nice. :D 
  • 21 Hide
    tanjo , October 5, 2011 11:38 AM
    Shut up and
    SHOW ME THE BULLDOZER.
  • 2 Hide
    rjandric , October 5, 2011 11:53 AM
    Let's face it, people buy things that look good. This is why Apple wins, no ugly plastic (think Qosmio) but polished aluminum. I still haven't seen anything from PC side that matches the looks of Apple laptops except short lived Dell Adamo. as for workstation, at work i deal with Mac Pros, Dell Precisions and Lenovo professional workstations. Apple beats them hands down in every aspect but the video card.
  • -2 Hide
    Thunderfox , October 5, 2011 11:57 AM
    Bitter grapes. They can't make anything small enough to put in an ultrabook, and they won't be able to for a while yet.

    The ultrabook should hopefully prove whether or not tablets and paper thin computers are exclusively Apple phenomena. If these sorts of things are going to stick around, then kudos to Intel for giving Apple competition. The last thing we need is for Apple to be the sole provider for any market segment.
  • 2 Hide
    southernshark , October 5, 2011 12:09 PM
    AMD has given up on the high end, and unfortunately for them the low end is going ARM. While I've been a long term AMD fanboy and am currently running a 6 core Phenom II as my main computer, I have to wonder if this company is actually going to make it, given its inability to compete at the high end, and with ARM eating the low end market share.
  • -1 Hide
    acadia11 , October 5, 2011 12:23 PM
    windows 8 tablet, why the heck would I need an ultrabook at all?
  • 1 Hide
    saturnus , October 5, 2011 12:36 PM
    AMD does right in foregoing the ultrabook concept. It has very little potential as a market since the vast majority the notebook market is in the corporate sales chain, and there what is requested are generally thinner clients, ie. less processing power but longer battery life.
  • -4 Hide
    vaughn2k , October 5, 2011 12:37 PM
    Stop blabbering... where's the bulldozer?!?!
  • 3 Hide
    that_aznpride101 , October 5, 2011 12:39 PM
    southernsharkAMD has given up on the high end, and unfortunately for them the low end is going ARM. While I've been a long term AMD fanboy and am currently running a 6 core Phenom II as my main computer, I have to wonder if this company is actually going to make it, given its inability to compete at the high end, and with ARM eating the low end market share.


    I believe AMD's future APU's are supposed to compete in the mainstream market against Intel's i-5's and i-7's at a lower price. They're also developing products for the mobile space too.
  • -5 Hide
    CaedenV , October 5, 2011 12:55 PM
    wait a seccond... So Ultrabook will fail because Apple's ultrabook is successful. But Apple's ultrabook uses Intel processors... so it sounds to me like Intel has already won.

    Sadly AMD looses. Their only advantage is their integrated GPUs on low power systems, something that Intel is quickly catching up on (look at the drastic increases in performance between the GMAs and HD, and the new HD2 coming out next year). Unless AMD starts kicking things in high gear they will loose the mobile markets as well.
    Also:
    tanjoShut up and SHOW ME THE BULLDOZER.

    Indeed!
  • -2 Hide
    tipoo , October 5, 2011 12:58 PM
    While I agree that I'd prefer their focus to be on bulldozer, not having an ultrabook equivalent seems like another stab in the foot. You go where the puck is about to go, not where it is.
  • -4 Hide
    sarcasm , October 5, 2011 1:03 PM
    As an AMD user, a message I would like to send to AMD is "STFU and release Bulldozer already!!!"
  • -2 Hide
    msgun98 , October 5, 2011 1:08 PM
    AMD does WRONG in foregoing the ultrabook. The guy just tried to equivocate on a llano based NETBOOK with an Intel based core-i7 low voltage proc that is in these ultrabooks. If you've read the reviews on the new Macbook Air you will notice that its actually faster than the last generation Macbook Pro. That means the ultrabook is actually a serious work machine contender now but with a form factor that is as convenient to carry as a tablet.

    If Intel would help the PC manufacturers reduce the price on these to $699 then you'd have a runaway success but if the margins are so low that even Acer has to charge almost $1,000 bucks then yea... the ultrabook on the PC side just won't make it.
  • 0 Hide
    southernshark , October 5, 2011 1:17 PM
    msgun98AMD does WRONG in foregoing the ultrabook. The guy just tried to equivocate on a llano based NETBOOK with an Intel based core-i7 low voltage proc that is in these ultrabooks. If you've read the reviews on the new Macbook Air you will notice that its actually faster than the last generation Macbook Pro. .


    Yep what AMD meant was that they can't produce a processor that will do that in such a small laptop..... SAD.

    And I must disagree with the fellow who thinks that corporate sales don't care about power. Just about meeting I've been to lately is full of people with MACBOOK AIRs and the occasional PRO model. I'm one of the few people using an AMD laptop and I feel the glares... like what is this guy doing here... he is so out of date.
  • -1 Hide
    Nintendork , October 5, 2011 2:49 PM
    You can call them out of date&zombie. Because they fell in the brainwashing doesn't mean they're doing the right thing (remember the nazis?)
  • 1 Hide
    Cazalan , October 5, 2011 3:06 PM
    I don't really care for an UltraBook either. Thin is nice but the weight of laptops has been low enough for years. I'm glad to see the chip counts being reduced and the APU (Trinity) should be at a very solid graphics level. With all that reduction they should really up the battery capacity and have a dual battery well, to let you swap batteries on the fly.
  • 3 Hide
    sonofliberty08 , October 5, 2011 3:18 PM

    zepd3zMaybe they should look into a standard laptop form factor (ATX, mATX etc...) like the on desktops and also Upgradable Mobo, CPU, GPU. Now that would be nice.

    i hope there is an unify standard form laptop that we can change the chassis, screen, mobo, cpu, gpu and all the parts anytime like we did on the desktop......

    tanjoShut up and SHOW ME THE BULLDOZER.

    AMD already shipped the Bulldozer out to the manufacture, but is the server chip, not yet for the desktop......
  • 0 Hide
    requiemsallure , October 5, 2011 3:33 PM
    tanjoShut up and SHOW ME THE BULLDOZER.


    http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

    as far as showing you it, thats easy! something i ran across today has the benchmark for the AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core as performing better than the 2500k now the next part is hearsay but i heard somewhere that the same 8 core chip will be $250. sounds a bit good to be true to me but hey... its something to give you.
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