While the current trend for processors move toward either the “faster” or “cheaper” ends of the product scale, AMD came out with a new mobile processor to fill up a niche somewhere between the price-performance divide between low-cost/low performance netbooks and stylized ultraportables at the high end of the price range.
That means that you can expect new notebooks built around the Athlon Neo to be super thin and light, with more than the basic performance that you’d usually get from the average Intel Atom-based netbook at a price point that falls way below the usual top-tiered ultraportable, which usually sells upward of $1000.
Set to be available in the US by March 2009, the Athlon Neo platform comes with considerably more powerful processing punch than what you’d expect from low-cost netbooks running on Intel’s Atom platform—at the cost of a little less battery life and a slightly higher price tag. On the upside, the Athlon Neo platform comes with a choice between ATI’s Radeon X1250 integrated graphics or a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics chip, which should handily trump the Atom’s GMA 950 integrated graphics chip on everything from light gaming to HD video decoding.
It’s a pretty good solution on paper, since it taps into buyers who’d rather hold onto their dated Centrino notebooks than spring for the average underpowered Atom-packing netbook. Some of the better Core Duo ultraportables can get pretty costly, with the top brands charging you a premium for the stylish, compact forms. If the price is right, this platform could give consumers a better choice somewhere in the middle, especially those who are willing to pay a little extra for the performance advantage over the basic netbook and the portability of a slim, light laptop for the price of a mainstream 14- to 15-incher.
The Athlon Neo platform makes its debut on HP’s new ultrathin Pavilion dv2 Entertainment Notebook PC, a 12-inch ultraportable that measures less than an inch thick and weighs less than four pounds. Set to sell from $699 (base configuration) to $899, the price point places it squarely in between low-cost netbooks and high-end ultraportables. Presented at this year’s CES, the dv2 will be available in the US in April 2009, and will come with a 1.6GHz Athlon Neo processor, 1GB memory, a spacious 320GB hard drive, Gigabit LAN, Windows Vista Home Basic and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 discrete graphics chip with 256MB of video memory.
