The AMD E-350 processor is an interesting chip which offers moderate performance, decent graphics, and relatively low power consumption. A number of laptop makers including HP, Asus, and Lenovo have released laptops this year featuring the chip. Now AMD is working on a new model which packs a little mroe punch.
Fudzilla reports that the AMD E-450 processor will bring more powerful graphics and a slightly higher CPU clock speed to the table, while keeping the same 18W TDP.
The E-350 is a 1.6 GHz dual core chip that uses Radeon HD 6310 graphics. The new AMD E-450 will be a 1.65 GHz dual core processor with faster Radeon HD 6320 graphics. Both chips are capable of handling DirectX 11 graphics and 1080p HD video playback.
The new chip will also feature Turbo Core technology which can overclock a single core while underclocking the other to improve performance on tasks that don’t really take advantage of multi-threading anyway without greatly sacrificing battery life. The GPU clock speed will also jump from 508 MHz to 600 MHz when Turbo Core kicks in.
The AMD E-series processors are designed to be energy efficient chips, offering decent battery life and low power consumption. So don’t expect to see these processors in bleeding edge computers anytime soon. Instead, the new chips will likely continue to show up in budget laptops with 11 to 15 inch displays.
There’s no word on the release date for the new AMD E-450.
Should be sweet, the sooner the better…just wait till this processor get’s a shrink to 28 nm that will be even better. Forget the Atom this is the way to go.
ATOM still has a power usage and price advantage, more so when they go 32nm Cedar Trail and are only about a year or so away from 22nm.
So don’t count ATOM out completely yet, it basically looks like AMD Fusion line are settling to become a go between range between ATOM and more powerful laptop processors, rather than complete replacements for the ATOM.
Only the Zacate line really exceeds the ATOM for CPU performance, while the Ontario line depends on the graphical advantage to edge out the ATOM.
Though this also means the ATOM now sits between both ARM and AMD solutions and no longer has the market elbow room they previously enjoyed.
So Intel has a lot riding on the 22nm Silvermont update for 2013, but will be giving the ATOM line a complete architectural re-working as they finally add new technology like the Intel 3D transistors, Out of Order Processing, etc.
While new features like AMD’s Turbo Core is similar to Intel’s Turbo Boost, which has its limits. Like the AMD Turbo Core only over clocks a single core while under clocking the other. So would not benefit multi-core processes and depending on how the system is used could even impede performance.
For premium performance in the netbook range though, you can’t really go wrong with either the E-350 or the E-450. It’s just the lower end offerings that ATOM can still compete.