AMD delivers on low-power Athlon 64 pledge

Parts for thin'n'light laptops

AMD has added two low-power Athlon 64 processors to its mobile line-up.

The new chips, rated as 2700+ and 2800+, are pitched at thin-and-light notebooks and deliver on AMD's promise, made at the original Athlon 64 launch in September 2003, to deliver 64-bit chips for such systems by the middle of 2004.

The two chips have a power consumption rating of 35W - 44 per cent lower power than previous Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors, AMD said. They also use a smaller, lidless packaging. The new Athlon 64s operate at 1.2V - previous models run at 1.4V.

AMD also noted the chips will support the new Execution Protection feature due to debut with Windows XP Service Pack 2. The technology "uses the CPU itself to enforce the separation of application code and data, preventing an application or Windows component from executing program code that an attacking worm or virus inserted into a portion of memory marked for data only", Microsoft said last autumn. The necessary chip support has actually been there since AMD launched its first AMD64 CPUs in April 2003.

The 2700+ and 2800+ are available now for $209 and $241, respectively, sold in batches of 1000 CPUs. AMD said PC maker Acer had already selected the processors for use on the latest in its line of Ferrari-branded Athlon 64-based notebooks, due to ship later this month.

Chinese manufacturer Amoi is incorporating the chip in a thin'n'light notebook of its own. Amoi will offer the machine during the second half of the year. ®

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