AMD has unveiled it's new Vision' notebook platform as it looks to compete with rival Intel in laptops, in a move that it declared could "change the game" for the company.
As part of its new direction, AMD's vice president of marketing Leslie Soban said in a conference call that the company would no longer talk about specifications and processors in its marketing messages and would instead focus on usage.
Soban said that 60 per cent of consumers are looking for a laptop that gives the best visual experience for their budget, and that the processor names did not tell them how to get that.
"We're going to stop talking about processors for mainstream consumers... the specs will still be there, but we won't lead with them," she said.
Despite all the hype about netbooks, Soban stated that sales of normal laptops weren't dying out. "The bulk of the market is still in 14-, 15-, and 16-inch notebooks. Mainstream notebooks are still very important," she said.
Soban also revealed that AMD would be leaning heavily on the launch of Windows 7 to generate interest in its new notebooks.
The new platform will be available in three flavours - Vision, Vision Premium, Vision Ultimate - using the tags of See', Share' and Create', for each variant.
Notebooks using Vision would have to feature an Athlon X2 and HD3200 as minimum. Vision Premium would require an Athlon II dual-core or Turion X2 processor with HD3200 or HD4200 graphics, while Vision Ultimate would require a Turion II dual-core and Radeon HD4650 combination.
The ultra-thin' laptops with a 13.3-inch screen that were thinner than one-inch thick would use an Athlon Neo X2 process and HD 3200 or HD 4330 graphics as a minimum.
Vision Premium, along with Vision Ultimate, would also be found on laptops featuring 17in screens, and DirectX 10.1 capable graphics for gaming and image creation.
Soband said that Vision Premium notebooks could transcode three times as much video per battery charge than Intel-based equivalents, while offering 45 minutes longer battery life.
Other specific features were High-DPI support for Windows 7, available via AMD's ATI Catalyst driver, and acceleration for DirectWrite and Cleartype.
On the video side, Vision Premium offers enhanced video contrast modes, and enhanced DVD upscaling. The platform could also support dual-stream picture-in-picture payback known on blu-ray as Bonus View'.
Soban also said it would be increasing battery life using its Fusion Utility for Mobility tool, which can turn off background tasks. She said this was originally aimed at gamers but would be very useful for mainstream and business users.
Soban also confirmed that AMD would be bringing its Vision platform to its desktop machines next year.
