AMD Makes Play For Thin Laptops With Trinity Chips

Advanced Micro Devices hasn’t had much to brag about in recent years, particularly in chips for laptop computers. But the company’s latest offerings, known by the code name Trinity, are starting to generate a buzz.
The company, long underdog to market leader Intel in microprocessors, fell behind in the technology race–particularly when it comes to the power consumption of its chips, a key attribute affecting battery life in notebook computers. Intel hopes to stay ahead with faster new chips of its own, dubbed Ivy Bridge, and get computer makers to place them in new-wave laptops it calls Ultrabooks.
But analysts say Trinity–which will be formally announced Tuesday–continues AMD’s edge over Intel when it comes to built-in circuitry that manages graphics, a legacy of its 2006 acquisition of ATI Technologies. And the new chip line comes with noticeable improvements in power consumption, packaged in a way that will work in extra-thin laptops akin to Ultrabooks.

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Intel hits 22nm stride with trigates - ElectroIQ

Intel has taken the wraps off its next chip technology, a 22nm process utilizing a new 3D trigate architecture promising faster speeds and big power savings, which will ramp to volume manufacturing later this year. Performance and power improvements in the Moore's Law-extending technology are "like nothing we've seen before [...] far exceed[ing] what we typically see from one process generation to the next," observed Intel Senior Fellow Mark Bohr.

Chipmakers have been tinkering for years with post-planar CMOS technology and visions of trigate architectures surrounding the channel. Whereas traditional 2D planar transistors form a conducting channel in the silicon under the gate electrode when on, the trigate vertical structure replaces the flat 2D stream with 3D fins, conducting and controlling channels on three sides to provide "fully depleted" operation. (Note that Intel doesn't use SOI, another viable yet expensive pathway to achieving full-depletion.) Multiple fins can be connected together to increase total drive strength.

Compared with 32nm planar chips, Intel's new 22nm trigates deliver >50% power reduction at constant performance, or a 37% performance increase at low voltage. The 22nm trigate circuits (364Mbit array size) incorporate 3rd-generation HKMG and the same transistor/interconnect features as on 22nm CPUs, but only add 2%-3% to process costs (vs. 10% for FDSOI), Intel says. First processors incorporating the trigate structure process (P1270), code-named "Ivy Bridge," are targeted for production ramp in 2H11 (maintaining the 2-year "tock" cadence for new tech generations); a 14nm version (P1272) is slated for 2013, and a 10nm one (P1274) in 2015.

More @ ElectroIQ

Intel's new Atom processor to lower netbook prices - Computerworld

Intel's new Atom processor to lower netbook prices - Computerworld: "IDG News Service - Intel on Wednesday said it has introduced a new Atom processor to bring down the price of netbooks in emerging markets to under $200, but the lower price may come at a performance penalty.


The single-core Atom N435 runs at 1.33GHz and includes 512KB of cache, making it the slowest of second-generation N-series processors that go into most netbooks today. The next fastest chips are the Atom N450 and N455 chips, which run at 1.66GHz.


Asus is using the new Atom N435 in its latest Eee PC X101, which is priced starting at $199. The laptop is being shown at the Computex trade show being held in Taipei."

Intel: Ultrabook Is Not a Sign It Failed in Tablets | PCWorld Business Center

Intel: Ultrabook Is Not a Sign It Failed in Tablets | PCWorld Business Center

Intel's proposal of a new class of laptop, the Ultrabook, isn't an admission that it is losing the battle to put its microprocessors in tablets, according to a company executive.

"We are late. Today there are many tablets that do not have Intel inside. But we are putting a lot of effort to cash in," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of Intel's PC Client Group.

Intel announced the Ultrabook series on Tuesday at Taipei's Computex trade show. The devices are meant to combine the faster processing speeds of PCs with the thin and light designs of tablets.

Ultrabooks will be less than 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) thick and Intel is working with manufacturers to get a first wave of the devices out by the holiday shopping season at the end of the year priced under US$1,000, the company said Tuesday. Asus said Tuesday that an Ultrabook dubbed the UX21 will be out by the end of the year.