Toshiba announces AMD-based laptops
Nathan Davis01 June 2007, 2:31 AM
Intel's now no longer the only one playing tumble with one of the world's largest sellers of notebook PCs -- AMD has got a foot in the door with Toshiba.
Notebook processor underdog, AMD, has jubilantly let the world know that it's now in bed with notebook sumo, Toshiba.
"With AMD and our industry-leading technology partners, Toshiba is bringing customers around the world a new level of choice in notebook PCs," proclaims -- deep breath now -- AMD's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, Henri Richard.
Toshiba is soon due to launch three new Satellite notebooks that will each sport a shiny green AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processor. These will all sit on an AMD M690, which is to be the predecessor chipset of the 'RS780' in the coming 'Puma' platform.
"Our collaboration with AMD is intended to satisfy the demands of a broader market for mobile computing," said Toshiba's Hisatsugu Nonaka, senior vice president and president and CEO of Toshiba’s Personal Computer & Network Company.
With its Dell triumph now followed up by Toshiba, AMD is calling it a significant win.
According to AMD, Toshiba will first launch the new models in both "the United States and Europe," presumably coming to Australia some time later.
AMD tells APC that some of the benefits of using its hardware are "Leading-edge performance," "increase[d] performance on memory-intensive applications," and "Enhanced Virus Protection." Extended battery life is another touted bonus.
We're lead to believe there is another, and that's price, but AMD wasn't commenting on that. Purportedly, the new AMD-based notebooks will be roughly $100 cheaper than their Intel counterparts.
Intel did not respond to a request for comment on the threat of cheaper priced AMD-powered notebooks flooding the market, or whether it would reduce its prices as a result.
Whether Toshiba received goodies such as price drops from Intel as a result of its now previous processor exclusivity is unknown, but chances are all deals are now off.
Hurrah for choice and competition!