New AMD chips meant for mobile gamers

Advanced Micro Devices hopes that game enthusiasts will soon be snatching up laptops built on two new mobile processors that the chipmaker introduced Monday.

The Turion MT-40 and MT-37 chips are available to PC makers for $359 and $268, respectively, in bulk amounts. Longtime AMD supporter VoodooPC has already pledged to use the two chips in a pair of laptops outfitted specially for people who take their video games seriously. Other notebook manufacturers that favor AMD, such as Acer, are expected to follow suit.

Credit: AMD

AMD Turion 64

AMD now has 12 64-bit Turion processors available for thinner and lighter notebooks, including three ML-series and seven MT-series chips. AMD designed the Turion series to use less battery power than its Athlon Mobile series, which the chipmaker reserves for desktop replacement models.

AMD is pushing both processors as alternatives to Intel's Centrino-based mobile Pentium chips, which include Intel's consumer-focused notebook platform, previously code-named Sonoma.

It's no secret that the AMD chips were released in advance of this week's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. AMD loves trying to steal Intel's thunder with the release of a new processor or other related technology right before or during Intel's shows.

While AMD knows that its two latest mobile chips won't eclipse Intel's Centrino marketing machine anytime soon, the No. 2 semiconductor maker is counting on its overall portfolio to put pressure on its rival.

AMD recently saw its market share in servers rise to 11.2 percent, marking the first time the company passed the 10 percent milestone.

Both chipmakers announced drastically reduced prices on their more popular processors earlier this month to spur sales during the back-to-school and preholiday buying seasons.

This article is a little out-dated...

Come on CNET, you guys are about a month behind the times. In the article you say: "Longtime AMD supporter VoodooPC has already pledged to use the two chips in a pair of laptops outfitted specially for people who take their video games seriously. Other notebook manufacturers that favor AMD, such as Acer, are expected to follow suit."

In fact, the Ferrari 4000 laptop from Acer and the VooDooPC Envy a228 have been on sale for at least a month now. And Acer's laptop was available FIRST, before the VooDoo from what I recall... And the Acer Ferrari 4000 is definately a gaming machine.

[jjames79]

Read it again...

The article refers to AMD's "MT" line of mobile CPU's not the ML. If you look at AMD's specs:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_12651_12659,00.html

The MT draws 25W on power usage while the ML's is 35W. So, I think this article is pertinent because even AMD's own website doesn't show the MT-37 or MT-40 listed in the product information.