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AMD unveils new A-series and E-series APUs offering more power and less power consumption

AMD debuts new silicon, including the world's first 28-nanometer, quad-core x86 SoC APU aimed at small touch-enabled notebooks, tablets and hybrids.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

California-based chipmaker AMD has revealed three new additions to its A-Series and E-Series APU lineups. This new silicon is designed to bring increased performance and lower power consumption.

The new silicon is divided into three categories.

First up is the 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU, the world's first 28-nanometer, quad-core x86 SoC APU aimed at small touch-enabled notebooks, tablets and hybrids with a screen 13-inches and smaller. These parts come in dual (A4) and quad-core (A6) configurations, and feature a "Jaguar" x86 CPU cores along with Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series GPUs. There's full 1080p and Windows 8 support, including support for the upcoming Windows 8.1 'Blue.'

According to AMD, Elite Mobility APUs (formerly codenamed "Temash") offer up to 172 percent more CPU performance per watt, and up to 212 percent better graphics performance per watt than its predecessor. In terms of battery life, they offer up to 12 hours of what AMD calls "resting life."

In terms of the competition (which in this case is an Intel Atom Z2760 1.5GHz CPU along with Intel integrated graphics), they offer up to 45 percent longer battery life and nearly five times more GPU performance.

Interestingy, as was announced earlier this week, Microsoft's new Xbox One is powered by an 8-core AMD APU based on the "Jaguar" architecture.

Next up is the 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (formerly codenamed "Kabini"). These are described as offering the "best-in-class graphics and first-in-class x86 quad core SoC" and AMD claims they deliver "the ideal balance between function and affordability for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks."

These APUs feature either two (E1 and E2 models) or four (A4 and A6 models) "Jaguar" x86 CPU cores and a Graphics Core Next AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series GPU.

According to AMD's figures, this silicon offers up to 132 percent better visual performance per watt and up to 127 percent better productivity performance per watt. Also available is up to 25 percent better power efficiency than previous generations.

On the battery life front, these processors deliver 11 hours of idle run time.

In terms of the competition, AMD claims that these Mainstream APUs offer up to 88 percent better graphics performance, up to 33 percent better gaming performance, and up to 29 percent faster file compression than the competition (an Core i3-2370M with Intel HD graphics).

Finally, there's the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (formerly codenamed "Richland"). These are AMD's top-of-the-line A-Series APUs that come in A8 and A10 variants and are based on the "Piledriver" architecture. These, claim AMD, deliver the best graphics and compute in a performance APU, including elite performance and battery life.

AMD's figure say that this silicon offers up to 12 percent better productivity performance and between 20 and 40 percent better visual performance than the previous generation, including up to 51 percent more power efficiency in HD video playback and up to 13 hours of resting battery life.

They also offer between 39 and 72 percent better gaming performance on today’s leading games than the competition (in this case an Intel Core i5-3210M with Intel HD 4000 graphics).

"The client market has evolved – with greater diversity in the types of mobile form factors and higher performance demands from the software – and AMD is uniquely positioned to deliver the best processors to meet the needs of mobile device users today," wrote Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units at AMD in a statement to ZDNet. "As computing becomes more visual and the graphics processor can be leveraged to do other types of processing, our dedication to the software community and the APU architecture sets us apart from the competition and enables us to deliver the best user experience whether on a tablet, a hybrid device or a notebook."

Also debuted are a range of what AMD are calling "mobile APU user experiences" which include gesture control, facial login, and Start Now technology. 

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