AMD responds to Intel's upcoming Haswell processor by releasing its own line of 3rd generation A-series and E-series processors. The new family of Accelerated Processing Units (APU) –– codenamed "Temash", "Kabini" and "Richland" –– will appear in tablets, notebooks and ultrabooks.
Each processor was designed specifically for different portable device markets. The Temash processor is headed for high performance tablets and netbooks, while Kabini is geared towards the all-in-one hybrid tablet notebook convertible devices. Richland was designed for 10- and 11-inch ultrathin laptops and in already featured in two gaming laptops from MSI.
The Richland model is an improved AMD Trinity APU, A10-4600M, with performance improvements to the CPU and GPU. The top performing Richland model, A10-5757M offers a CPU core clocked at 2.5GHz to 3.5GHz and a GPU clocked at 600-720MHz.
The newly released family of Temash APU chips offers three different CPU and GPU speeds. The highest performing is the A6-1450 with a CPU at 1.0GHz to 1.4 GHz and a GPU at 300MHz. The A4-1250 and A4-1200 both differ when comparing the GPU speeds, clocked at 300MHz to 225MHz, respectively. Both have a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz. These speeds rival that of Intel's Pentium and Celeron processors found on tablets and netbooks.
Kabini APUs are also designed to break into the hybrid tablet notebook niche and AMD offers a wide range of choices. CPU clock speeds of the Kabini A and E series offer individual CPU clock speeds that range from 1GHz to 2Ghz. Depending on the APU, the GPU speed falls within 300GHz to 600GHz.
AMD offers a wide range of processers that are likely to be seen in upcoming portable devices from ASUS, Vizio, HP and others. The new family of APU products feature performance increases without draining battery life, which is a bonus for mobile gaming.
