AMD skips Chromebooks, bets on Windows 10

in hardware on 2015-06-05 19:17 (#AGTA)

Chromebooks may be hot-ticket items, but with its sixth-generation A-series chips for mainstream laptops, AMD is instead placing its bets on Microsoft's Windows 10. The new chips, code-named Carrizo, will appear in laptops priced between US$400 and $800 from Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba. The first wave of laptops will become available starting in July, initially with Windows 8, and later in the year with Windows 10.

The new chips include quad-core A8 and A10 processors, which have up to six GPU cores, and the faster FX chips, which have up to eight GPU cores. The chips draw between 15 watts to 35 watts of power. Some new laptops based on the chips were shown at the Computex trade show in Taipei this week. PC makers are considering the new Carrizo chips for Windows laptops, not for Chromebooks, said Adam Kozak, marketing manager at AMD. Laptops also will get thinner and lighter, as Carrizo chips are about 29 percent smaller than their predecessors.

Logic (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-06 10:16 (#AHVZ)

Windows 8 has tanked so badly Microsoft is giving away its next OS to millions of people for free, and they decide to go with it over Chrome? Wow. On the other side, obviously they missed the recent announcements about what has been stripped out in Windows 10.

Re: Logic (Score: 1)

by axsdenied@pipedot.org on 2015-06-07 04:37 (#AK4H)

As far as I know the only things that really have been stripped out are Windows Media Center, DVD playback, gadgets and some games. The other stripped-out stuff can be downloaded separately (games or floppy drivers for example).

Media center can be easily replaced by several alternatives (XBMC for example), VLC will do the DVD player.

Unless I missed something, I am missing your point.

Re: Logic (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-07 13:10 (#AKRS)

I'd say the ability to control which (and when) updates you want installed is a fairly important one. Especially seeing as how awful QA on recent Microsoft patches has been recently.

Then there's the whole "Metro" thing where they strip away your ability to customize the interface (like, say, re-arranging the order of your start menu). The general "dumbing down" of the interface, taking away vital controls and information, is not welcome.

POP3 support in a mail client would be nice too.

Re: Logic (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-08 00:03 (#AMKR)

Automatic updates will be pushed only for Win home users. Considering that most of Windows users do not have a clue what they are doing, that is probably a good thing.

Re: Logic (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-08 11:41 (#ANGK)

Perhaps we will see an increase in the number of everyday users who can implement a null route to force windows update to fail :)

Re: Logic (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-08 11:37 (#ANGJ)

I just built a test machine with updates enabled. It borked itself on the first two machines. Twice. Two screwups from a base install. Only on the third go did it actually work correctly. Microsoft updates are a nightmare. I have been nutted by updates in the past on Windows 7 and XP. Forced updates? Can anyone else hear millions of people scream as they watch their pc crash? I hope everyone in the world can handle a few hundred MB when the net is turned on.

Re: Logic (Score: 2, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-06-08 05:21 (#AMY0)

I don't think they're giving Win10 away because Win8 tanked. They're giving it away because that's what Apple is doing now, and because their MBAs have decided it's a better business strategy to push users into subscription models for other services like Office 365 and Cloud services, etc.

Yes, Win8 tanked, but I don't think this is an issue of cause and effect.

Re: Logic (Score: 1)

by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2015-06-08 13:55 (#ANTD)

MBA logic: these laptops will be more expensive than most non-pixel chromebooks, which means there may be more of a profit per unit. I don't know why they have to dedcide between chrome and windows. They just make the processors and let OEM's put them in whatever systems they want.

Also, key quote from article:

PC makers are considering the new Carrizo chips for Windows laptops, not for Chromebooks, said Adam Kozak, marketing manager at AMD.

So, its OEM's and not AMD specifically? Maybe. Other parts talk about all the windows 10 specific stuff they did with the chips. So who knows. In any case, I prefer to run linux on real laptops with more on board storage space than chromebooks. So maybe this is a win for me or at least the windows tax status quo? Not sure. I guess I'll have to wait to see what the secure boot settings are.

Re: Logic (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-08 18:26 (#APR2)

It's pretty misleading in general. This is a beefy processor for beefy systems. There is nothing saying they won't release another line for smaller more conservative systems in a few months.