Look out Intel, because Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also intends to wrestle ARM in the mobile space. The Sunnyvale chip designer just unveiled a new Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) designed for performance tablets and small form factor (SFF) PCs, the AMD Z-60. It’s a low power chip that promises all-day battery life along with “stunning graphics” and support for latest Windows 8 applications, AMD says.
“Tablet users seeking an uncompromised experience for both creating and consuming content on the Microsoft Windows 8 platform now have a performance-driven, affordable option with the AMD Z-60 APU,” said Steve Belt, corporate vice president of Ultra-Low Power Products, AMD. “We see a large gap between the lower performance and high-price competitive offerings that allow AMD to be in tablet designs that will please our customers and end users alike.”
The Z-60 APU is a dual-core part clocked at 1GHz. It has 1MB of L2 cache, integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics with 80 Radeon cores, USB 3.0 support, and a 4.5W TDP.
According to AMD, the Z-60 APU is loaded with tablet friendly features, including AMD Start Now technology to allow for fast boot and resume from sleep times, up to 8 hours of battery life when browsing the web and up to 6 hours when watching HD videos, support for Full HD 1080p visuals, and DirectX 11.
AMD didn’t announce pricing, but if it adopts the same strategy that it’s taken on the desktop, things could get very interesting in the Windows 8 tablet space. Imagine Surface-like tablets at a fraction of the price.
In any event, the Z-60 APU is shipping today to customers and will manifest in launched products later this year.
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AMD Targeting Windows 8 Tablet Market with New Z-60 APU
