AtenRa posted this in another thread on AMD's Fusion strategy but this is the first time I've seen these specific details. Mods, if this is old news, please simply lock this thread. If not, well, here they are:
My first reaction is AWESOME. If these numbers are to be believed, then the quad core AMD Llano A8-3510MX with its 1.8GHz base/2.5GHz Turbo with an integrated Radeon HD 6620G with 400 Radeon Cores bests a GeForce GT 240M in 3DMarkVantage - and beats it with a TDP of 45W. Note the GT 240M by itself has a TDP of 23W.
Perhaps even better, the dual core A4-3300M APU (1.9GHz base/2.5GHz Turbo) with its integrated Radeon HD 6480G with its 240 Radeon Cores bests a 9600M GT - with a TDP of 35W.
I think these numbers are very, very exciting. And not just for the mobile market. I probably sound like a broken record since I make this point frequently, but most software demands lag so far behind hardware capability right now that the vast majority of consumers simply do not need the power of an i5-2500 or i7-2600 or the comparable upcoming Bulldozer chips. The A8-3510MX appears to perform at just about the right point for a more demanding, but still typical, computer user. Hell, now that most of my computationally intense research is done remotely on my lab's computers, I'll likely replace my own personal system with this APU. In fact, if it supports dual digital display outputs, I'm sold. With a TDP of 45W for both the quad CPU and the GPU, haha, that's just badass. Less demanding users will be fine with the A4-3300M APU - but I fear the 'M' suffix means it might not be available for desktop boards.
IMHO AMD has captured the low-to-mid range of desktop computing extremely well, and these segments constitute probably 90% of consumers. It will be interesting to see how Intel reacts, though it looks like Ivy Bridge will be hot on Llano's heels. We'll see how its IGP fares compared to the Fusion APUs. It will certainly be a marked change to be able to recommend AMD-based laptops. In fact, I doubt I will be recommending anything Intel-based once the Llano chips start hitting the market, assuming manufacturers don't drop the ball with their designs.
I would be absolutely shocked to not see Apple pick up some of these APUs for its next iterations of the MacBook, MacMini, and maybe even iMac lines.
Intel has really been hitting home runs since the Core 2 was introduced five years ago, and it's about damn time AMD started giving them real competition across almost all of the board (it does not appear that the highest-end Bulldozer will compete with the i7-2600's capacity and power draw, it seems that Bulldozer will be competitive capacity-wise but not power-wise). That's what keeps prices down and advancements coming!
Edit: found this, Llano pricing info from Digitimes.
My first reaction is AWESOME. If these numbers are to be believed, then the quad core AMD Llano A8-3510MX with its 1.8GHz base/2.5GHz Turbo with an integrated Radeon HD 6620G with 400 Radeon Cores bests a GeForce GT 240M in 3DMarkVantage - and beats it with a TDP of 45W. Note the GT 240M by itself has a TDP of 23W.
Perhaps even better, the dual core A4-3300M APU (1.9GHz base/2.5GHz Turbo) with its integrated Radeon HD 6480G with its 240 Radeon Cores bests a 9600M GT - with a TDP of 35W.
I think these numbers are very, very exciting. And not just for the mobile market. I probably sound like a broken record since I make this point frequently, but most software demands lag so far behind hardware capability right now that the vast majority of consumers simply do not need the power of an i5-2500 or i7-2600 or the comparable upcoming Bulldozer chips. The A8-3510MX appears to perform at just about the right point for a more demanding, but still typical, computer user. Hell, now that most of my computationally intense research is done remotely on my lab's computers, I'll likely replace my own personal system with this APU. In fact, if it supports dual digital display outputs, I'm sold. With a TDP of 45W for both the quad CPU and the GPU, haha, that's just badass. Less demanding users will be fine with the A4-3300M APU - but I fear the 'M' suffix means it might not be available for desktop boards.
IMHO AMD has captured the low-to-mid range of desktop computing extremely well, and these segments constitute probably 90% of consumers. It will be interesting to see how Intel reacts, though it looks like Ivy Bridge will be hot on Llano's heels. We'll see how its IGP fares compared to the Fusion APUs. It will certainly be a marked change to be able to recommend AMD-based laptops. In fact, I doubt I will be recommending anything Intel-based once the Llano chips start hitting the market, assuming manufacturers don't drop the ball with their designs.
I would be absolutely shocked to not see Apple pick up some of these APUs for its next iterations of the MacBook, MacMini, and maybe even iMac lines.
Intel has really been hitting home runs since the Core 2 was introduced five years ago, and it's about damn time AMD started giving them real competition across almost all of the board (it does not appear that the highest-end Bulldozer will compete with the i7-2600's capacity and power draw, it seems that Bulldozer will be competitive capacity-wise but not power-wise). That's what keeps prices down and advancements coming!
Edit: found this, Llano pricing info from Digitimes.
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I got a thing for small hardware, think they look cute. 
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