AMD sets sights on ultrathins with new chipset

Rumors that chipmaker AMD has been planning to throw its hat into the ultrathin PC market have been circulating since early 2012. Now, it seems AMD is ready to commit after announcing its new family of A-Series accelerated processing units (APUs).

The A-Series chips, dubbed Trinity, are designed for both mainstream and ultrathin notebook computers, as well as traditional desktops and all-in-one systems. AMD says the APU family will double the per-watt performance from the previous A-Series generation and increase CPU performance by as much as 29 percent.

AMD is also touting the energy efficiency of its technology, claiming that devices powered by these chips can run up to 12 hours on a single battery charge. This would certainly increase AMD's viability in the ultrathin arena, as one of the main selling points of Intel's Ultrabooks is their long battery life.

Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's Client Business Unit highlights the A-Series' price point as compared to that of Ultrabooks, noting that AMD's technology will carry over into "affordable ultrathin form factors featuring the latest in AMD Radeon™ graphics."

Price may be one area that proves especially important to AMD's success. Cost has been one of the few hindrances of early Ultrabook™ computers. Though the price is coming down, AMD may be able to find a sweet spot in this space by beating Intel® to the punch.