10 to 20 percent cheaper
Back at CES, AMD confirmed that it is gearing up to launch Trinity APUs optimized for thin and light notebooks, which AMD now calls Ultrathins.
Although Trinity will probably end up slower on the CPU side than Ivy Bridge, it should pack superior graphics to balance things out. The obvious upshot of using Trinity APUs in ultrathin notebooks versus Intel’s current Sandy Bridge and upcoming Ivy Bridge parts is the lower cost.
Intel’s current ultrabook processors cost $250 to $350, so it is safe to assume that Ivy Bridge won’t come much cheaper. This is AMD’s cue, as it will be able to offer much cheaper Trinity parts, albeit with inferior CPU performance and battery life.
Digitimes believes we could see about 20 ultrathins based on Trinity be the end of the year, while Intel expects to score 75 new ultrabook design wins. Entry level ultrabook prices are expected to drop to $799 in 2012, but Trinity could end up $100 to $200 cheaper, which sounds like a pretty good deal.
More here.