AMD tops out low-power mobile 64-bit chip range

By Alun Williams

Posted on 20 Sep 2004 at 12:35

AMD has upped the ante for its low-power Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor range, aimed at the small and thin ultra-portable notebook market.

The new 3000+ model clocks 2.0 GHz and comes with 512KB of level 2 cache. Existing models in the low-power range, the 2800+ and 2700+, operate at 1.8 and 1.6GHz respectively.

Leading the way with the new 64-bit processor is Acer, which is upgrading its Ferrari brand of notebooks to incorporate it - the Ferrari 3400 should be available from Acer before the end of this month.

Marty Seyer, general manager of AMD's Microprocessor Business Unit, picked up the racing theme: 'In much the same way that the Ferrari race team continues to dominate Formula 1 racing, AMD again outpaces the field with our latest 32/64-bit processor for high-performance notebook PCs,' boasts Seyer. 'Consumers and business professionals who refuse to compromise power for mobility will be excited by the combination of performance, security and 64-bit capability under the hood of the new Acer Ferrari brand notebook. AMD believes that AMD64 processor-based notebooks with EVP (enhanced virus protection) and SP2 offer one of the most secure notebook platforms in the industry.'

As well as support for 802.11a/b/g flavours of wireless networking, the chip is AMD's first new processor model manufactured to a 90 nanometer production process, which should help increase the performance in a chip without requiring increased power consumption.

The low-power Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor 3000+ is priced at $241 (the low-power 2800+ costs $209 and the 2700+ $178. As always, these figures are based on orders of 1,000-unit quantities.

You can find more info on the Mobile Athlon 64 at the AMD website.