AMD announces the 2nd generation of A-series APUs, following "Fusion" with "Trinity" processors-- chips the company claims offer longer battery lives and lower prices than Intel's Ivy Bridge.
Trinity still uses the 32nm fabrication process (unlike the smaller Ivy Bridge), resulting in larger die sizes as the number of transistors grows. AMD insists customers do not care about processor sizes, instead preferring features like instant-on functionality.
AMD aims the Trinity series for use in ultrabook-style laptops and says a sub 5-Watt tablet processor will be ready by the time Windows 8 launches. The company has no plans to make an Android-compatible processor-- yet.
Unlike Intel, AMD does not plan to dictate laptop standards to vendors. On the other hand, the company says "we feel the market is struggling due to a lack of differentiation, and we want to help companies accomplish this."
Apparently Trinity chips offer x2 the performance per watt and 29% more CPU performance in comparison to 1st generation chips, thanks to a new Piledriver CPU core using 3rd generation Turbo Core technology.
AMD also says Trinity APUs are more of a graphics processor than CPU (meaning improved gaming and video playback), while the chips use up to 12 hours of battery life.
Trinity CPUs should appear in laptops from vendors such as Acer, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba later this year.
