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    AMD prepping ultrathin laptops to compete with Intel's ultrabooks

    AMD prepping ultrathin laptops to compete with Intel's ultrabooks

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    AMD stated it intends to power an "ultrathin" line of laptops that compete with Intel's ultrabook line. In an interview with The Australian, AMD Australia and New Zealand country manager Brian Slattery said that the first AMD-powered ultrathin laptop could be available in the region as early as next month.

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    AMD APU
    AMD APU

    When AMD announced it was planning to shift focus in 2012, many assumed it was moving towards phones and tablets, but the company's stated it intends to power an "ultrathin" line of laptops that competes with Intel's ultrabook line. In an interview with The Australian, AMD Australia and New Zealand country manager Brian Slattery said that the first AMD-powered ultrathin laptop could be available in the region as early as next month. While the company hasn't said specifically what processors it'll be using, some variant of the Fusion APU, which AMD announced last January, seems likely. Fusion-powered laptops, like the HP Pavilion dm1, have become quite popular in the last year, but none of them have been quite as thin or light as the new crop of ultrabooks.

    AMD's hoping that its integrated Radeon GPU provides a differentiator over Intel's solutions — historically, Intel's graphics processors have trailed those from Nvidia and AMD, but its forthcoming Ivy Bridge processors is promising to change that. The company also noted that, unlike Intel, it doesn't plan to provide manufacturers with specifications for ultrathin laptops; Slattery stated that manufacturers "can do what they want with them." While AMD may have said it needs to get away from the  "AMD versus Intel" mindset, it looks like old habits die hard.