AMD will be launching the first Fusion APUs before the end of the year, but the focus is on the mobile market and other energy efficient platforms. For mid-range and performance computers it will be Llano sporting an integrated graphics processor, the definition of an APU, and products are said to be coming next Summer.
AMD has been pretty vague when answering questions on when the Llano APU would appear, but in a recently published interview Leslie Sobon, VD of global sales at AMD, confirms that Llano will start shipping to partners in the first half of 2011 and that the first products will be available the same Summer.
AMD Llano will sport up to four processor cores and these will share the silicon with a DirectX 11 graphics processor, but also an integrated DDR3 memory controller and video processor.
AMD Llano APU (Picture from PCper.com)
Llano will be made with AMD’s fresh 32nm SOI (Silicon on insulator) technology and even if the architecture may not be as fast as Intel Sandy Bridge the integrated graphics processor and optimizations of the memory controller should way in its favor, along with a focus on energy efficiency.
What this means for the overall performance and competitive power of the circuit is hard to say. Intel Sandy Bridge will be a mature processor next Summer and will be a touch opponent, but AMD says that partners are pleased and impressed.
And let me tell you one thing about Llano, the reaction of all our partners after seeing the demo was, in one word, “whoa”.
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