AMD focuses on luggables

A new AMD platform for ultraportables will not be targeted at the smallest devices, leaving the emerging market to the likes of ARM, Via and Intel, according to a US report.

The Yukon platform, with a single-core processor codenamed Huron, is said to have superior battery life and is due to launch early next year.

The company told analysts last Thursday that it would be targeted at mini-notebooks, which it said have tremendous market potential, particularly in mature markets where households have several machines.

But these true portables have become tangled up in marketingspeak (see Test Bed comment) and the announcement was not as clear cut as it appeared.

The company is in fact aiming Yukon at larger ultraportables with screens from 11in to 13in and weighing between 3lb and 5lb (1.36kg to 2.27kg), it said in a clarifying email to Information Week.

Yukon will be followed late next year by a second ultraportable platform called Congo, using a dual-core chip codenamed Conesus.

For roadmap and comment see Test Bed.