Monday's calendar is getting more crowded by the minute: Android, Windows Phone and now an
AMD press conference! The announcement should be about HSA strategy and so the inclusion of third party designs in AMD chips. I don't know about you but the inclusion of an ARM core in a x86 design gets my tech imagination running...
The main issue with the current CPU/GPU/APU market is that different pieces of silicon are for different tasks: high preformance x86 for servers and desktop, low power x86 for the laptop, ultra low power ARM for tablets and smartphones. To that add graphics: high power discrete for the desktop, low power discrete for the upper laptop segment, integrated for the lower one and than ARM to the tablets and phones.
Even if some of the choices are taken by the hardware producer the consumer still ends up with a quite wide range of choices to make. Do I want a powerful laptop or a laptop I can take with me all day without a charger? The chip giants know that and are making a move in different ways: ARM from the bottom is enhancing performance mantaining low power, Intel and AMD from the top are reducing power and integrating graphics. I will leave for now the confrontation between Intel and AMD approach to the problem but the direction is the same: a do-it-all piece of silicon.
