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Date added: 05/24/2011 ZDNet - New details on AMD, Intel chips for back-to-school PCs

After some manufacturing delays, AMD is set to release its Llano processor for mainstream laptops and desktops. I expect them to make it official at the Computex tradeshow in Taiwan next week, but some technology sites in Asia are already reporting details of these new processors. It is probably no coincidence that Intel has just updated its processor list to include Sandy Bridge chips at lower prices, which will compete directly with Llano.

Rather than CPU, AMD uses the term APU, or Accelerated Processor Unit, to describe chips like Llano that include both CPU cores and a graphics processor. It took longer than expected for AMD’s manufacturing partner, GlobalFoundries, to work out the kinks with its 32nm process using new materials (a high-k dielectric and metal gates), so in the interim AMD released low-power C-Series (Ontario) and E-Series (Zacate) APUs manufactured by a different foundry, TSMC, using a more conventional 40nm technology. But the Llano APUs, most of which will be branded as the A-Series, are critical because they are designed for mainstream laptops and desktops, an area where AMD has been relatively strong.

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