Is AMD Puma relevant in a 45nm world?
We like the fact that PowerXpress offers synergy between a power-saving integrated GPU and the performance of a discrete video card. Are there any advantages to using ATI products on Puma, or will it work just as well with Nvidia products?Moorhead: PowerXpress comes into play only with a compatible ATI graphics card. This technology gives users a choice (in usage). If they want optimal battery life, they will use only integrated graphics. If they want gaming power, then both discrete and integrated video cards come into play to give optimal performance. Unlike some solutions which force only the integrated or discrete to activate at any one time, our solution makes both components work in tandem. We’ve heard that Griffin consumes more power than Intel C2D or even the preceding Turion X2 chips while offering less computing performance. However, Puma does seem to deliver a superior multimedia experience compared to the latest Centrino 2 platform. Do you think consumers are willing to sacrifice battery life and computing power in exchange for a more balanced performance?Moorhead: The platform itself uses less power with HD video, and hence offers a lower graphics performance per watt as well. When you look at the actual consumption when running a program, the Griffin processor actually uses less. The Griffin has lower power usage than the prior processor. When you play high definition, you actually use 60 percent less power than the previous processor.  Bang or bust, AMD is not sure if Netbooks will hit the mainstream market. The popularity of sub-notebooks is on the rise as can be seen from all the new offerings in the market. Will Puma be suitable for this category of products, or does AMD have something else in the works?Moorhead: It’s interesting that every new show needs a shiny red wagon. Remember last year when everyone was talking about UMPCs? A year later UMPCs haven’t exactly taken the market by storm. People want a keyboard and the device was simply too expensive. This year’s new thing is low-cost notebooks. It could hit mainstream, or it could be a bust, we are not sure yet. There is a big difference between a US$599 mini-notebook and a US$200 OLPC. When you spend US$599, you expect PC-like performance. When you spend US$200, you don’t expect that. So it’s hard to say if it is going to be a mainstream product. We have a few designs in but we are not sure (of bringing them to market). As you can see from my personal experiences on my blog, some people will be better off buying a full-size notebook than one of these mini-laptops. Buyers should be aware of the differences in capabilities. With Puma, we’re addressing 95 percent of the marketplace which the end-user accepts completely. One of the major challenges for AMD products is distribution and variety. Centrino systems simply overwhelm the market with more variety and offerings. What is AMD’s strategy to help vendors increase their AMD-based offerings besides leveraging on price?Moorhead: We have twice as many design wins with Puma as with the prior generation. So what you will see are a lot more (Puma) notebooks from a lot more vendors. In fact, expect to see twice as many as before compared with the previous platform. What you will also see are a lot more commercial notebooks and more with discrete graphics as well.
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