AMD talks up Atom competitor

There has been some talk in the recent news about AMD's answer to Atom.
AMD is often credited with helping get the concept of the netbook off the ground but then walking away and allowing others to make the most of their work.

However AMD is now talking up a new product that will not be a netbook, but a low power cost effective notebook platform to rival Intel's Atom.
According to Digitimes, the first samples of this platform should arrive at AMD's partners in 2010.

In the same article Dirk Myer says that the distinction between netbooks and notebooks will continue to blur with the end result of the netbook term going away.

Read more here.

Meyer emphasized that products based on the new platform will be notebooks not netbooks. Since netbook continue to improve in capabilities and the segment is becoming blurrier compared to regular notebooks, Meyer said he believes the term "netbook" will disappear in the future.

For the company's notebook segment, AMD currently has its Puma platform for mainstream notebooks and will soon launch the next generation Tigris platform, noted Meyer, while Yukon and Congo platforms will target the ultra-thin segment.

Meyer commented that ARM-based platforms will have difficulty penetrating the notebook market due to lack of software support.