Product Reviews

AMD has given PC Pro an exclusive look at its new mobile platform, codenamed Puma. The platform was formally launched in May, but until this week no hardware had been made available for public examination.

Like Intel's Centrino, Puma isn't a single product but a laptop specification which sets standards for CPU, GPU and wireless hardware.

Click here for our Intel Centrino 2 review.

The model loaned to us was a pre-production MSI device, built on a compact chassis similar to the Wind. But other manufacturers will be making Puma products (we know, for example, that Fujitsu Siemens is already on board), and the platform will accommodate the whole gamut of form factors.

Turion Ultra

The heart of Puma is the dual-core Turion Ultra processor, codenamed Griffin. It's a 65nm part, like all current AMD processors, and includes 1MB of L2 cache per core.

Our sample laptop used the 2.2GHz ZM-82 model, but there are also 2.1GHz and 2.5GHz versions, known as the ZM-80 and the ZM-86. Later this year, we also expect to see Mobile Sempron chips, for more lightweight Puma systems, though details of those are yet to be confirmed.

The Turion is designed for power efficiency, and cores can be throttled individually, as with the Phenom desktop processor. It's all but impossible to isolate the effect this has on overall power consumption, but our sample MSI notebook drew no more than 67W from the mains even at 100% CPU load - around 15W less than some Centrino products we've seen.

When it comes to speed, the Turion Ultra is capable but hardly ground-breaking. Our MSI, equipped with 2GB of RAM, achieved an overall score of 0.86 in our 2D benchmarks. That's fine for a mid-range notebook, but it implies that even the fastest Griffin will struggle to achieve 1.00.

There's nothing in the Puma line-up to compete with the likes of the Core 2 Duo T8300, which propelled the Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31Z to an overall score of 1.27.

Wireless

Our MSI sample used a Ralink 802.11n controller, but AMD has also approved wireless chipsets from Atheros, Broadcom and Marvell for use in the Puma platform.

This is a big difference from Centrino: the current generation ('Santa Rosa') mandates the Intel 4965AGN controller, and the upcoming Centrino 2 platform (codenamed 'Montevina') limits manufacturers to either Intel's 5100/5300 or 5150/5350 chipsets, depending on whether WiMAX is required.

AMD claims that a freer choice of chipsets gives scope for manufacturers to offer far better wireless range. It also promises improved transfer rates - according to AMD's own tests, the Puma-certified Atheros AR9280 can transfer files 38% faster than the Intel chip.

But while this flexibility may give AMD-based notebooks scope to outrun Intel, it also gives manufacturers carte blanche to use the cheapest chipset they can source. So while Centrino guarantees a certain level of wireless performance, Puma could be a less dependable beast.

Graphics

Since AMD owns ATI, it's no surprise that the company is emphasising Puma's graphical prowess. The baseline chip is the Mobility Radeon HD 3200 IGP, and that's what we found in our sample laptop. It achieved 14fps in our low-detail Crysis test, indicating that it's fine for older games, though far from cutting edge.

The good news is that this little chip is about to be joined by a range of nine discrete mobile GPUs, starting with the Mobility Radeon HD 3410 and going

Notebooks can even be equipped with both the IGP and a discrete GPU. ATI's 'PowerXpress' system will dynamically switch between them, providing low-power operation within Windows but enabling the discrete chip for 3D applications.

If performance is comparable to the HD 3000 series of desktop cards, Puma devices could prove to be very capable gaming laptops.

This is a smart fight for Puma to pick, because while Centrino does permit discrete graphics, most implementations have tended to use Intel's GMA X3100, leading to lacklustre 3D performance. Centrino 2 will upgrade this to the more powerful GMA X4500, but we'd still expect mid- and upper-range Mobility Radeon GPUs to outclass Intel's chip. Confirmation of that, though, will have to wait until the new chips appear.

The Mobility Radeon chipset also features AMD's unified video decoder, which reduces CPU load and power drain by using dedicated hardware to decompress video files. X4500 has a similar feature, but it only supports MPEG2 - that's fine for DVD playback, but it won't help with Blu-ray discs encoded as VC1 or AVC. AMD's chip works with all three formats.

Finally, Puma's most innovative feature is a proprietary PCI-Express 2.0 8x connector, which can be connected to an external enclosure containing a desktop graphics card. AMD calls this system XGP, and it gives gamers upgradeable desktop-quality graphics at home, while keeping bulk and power consumption to a minimum. Actual hardware, however, has yet to materialise, and our sample MSI notebook didn't even have the requisite connector.

Ready to pounce?

AMD likes to emphasise efficiency, and if the Turion Ultra can keep up notebook processing power while reducing battery drain then that has to be a good thing. The promise of desktop-standard graphics is attractive too.

But as we examined our sample unit it quickly became apparent that testing a single machine reveals very little about Puma as a platform - especially with the new graphics chips, and the new XGP box, still to materialise.

That's because Puma's range of hardware options is so broad. The specification can take in any sort of portable PC from a dirt-cheap hand-held upwards - only stopping short of the niche role of mobile super-computer.

The most consistent part of the set-up is the processor, which for now comes in just one version at three different clock speeds; but that too will become more variable when the new Mobile Sempron appears.

As a result, our conclusions about this pre-production sample apply to this particular design only. In particular, talking about power consumption is pointless, as the manufacturer's choice of screen, hard disk and graphics system are all at least as significant as AMD's engineering.

Holding the leash

It inevitably follows that Puma's eventual success or otherwise is down to manufacturers. Probably, some Puma notebooks will be great; others, we're sure, will be disappointing. That's not exactly AMD's fault, but it's an indicator that the company isn't really in a strong enough position right now to dictate platform specifications.

What's more, AMD has confirmed it won't be pushing the Puma name on the high street, nor will it pay manufacturers to promote the platform on its behalf. So there's really no incentive for a manufacturer to follow even AMD's loose specifications. We won't be surprised if Puma ends up watered down with whatever components manufacturers feel like using.

That certainly doesn't mean AMD is doomed in the mobile market. The Griffin Turion has plenty of power for typical laptop applications, and the power saving design raises our hopes for impressive battery life.

The option of a powerful GPU could also attract casual gamers who would otherwise stick to a desktop. We hope to see a good range of Puma-based systems in the coming months.

But as and when we recommend one, that will be down to the laptop manufacturer as much as AMD. Like Spider before it, we fear that, as a concept, Puma is ultimately destined for irrelevance.