As part of its latest laptop platform aimed at mainstream notebooks, AMD introduced improved graphics capabilities and new processors to come at par with its rival Intel in chip market. The code name of this platform is Tigris and it includes Athlon lines capable of running upto 2.1 GHz with 1 MB of cache; and dual core processors that belong to Turion II X2, consumes 35 watts of power and runs between 2.2-2.6 GHz. These processors provide much better system performance whilst drawing less power than its predecessors. Along with this, a number of graphic features and power enhancements are also included in the platform for improved battery life and multimedia performance. After Puma, which was launched in the middle of last year, Tigris is AMD’s first platform upgrade for mainstream machines competing with Intel’s Centrino platform used in many laptops.

Most of the laptops in market today include Intel’s processors containing integrated graphics controllers but in graphics performance, AMD holds advantage over Intel especially while watching High-definition movies or playing graphics intensive games. However, for common applications like watching online movies, the difference between Intel and AMD’s chips will be less noticeable.

As Tigris platform has M880 chipset along with ATI Radeon graphics core which makes it capable for faster processing, multimedia tasks can be done in less time; Multimedia tasks like graphic core to video decoding can be offloaded from laptops to free CPU for other tasks. New power states are available in the platform to reduce battery consumption as compared to earlier platforms while playing DVDs. Also the price advantage that AMD has can pressure Intel to lower prices on its existing processors. But this advantage is not likely to be for long and will vanish with the release of new generation of processors by Intel. Processors in Tigris platform are built with 45 nanometer process while Intel is scheduled to use 32-nanometer process which is more advanced.

AMD had chip development advantage for some time, but Intel is catching up. Intel is capable of delivering better metrics claimed by AMD with enough money that it has. Getting considerable attention is expensive for AMD than Intel and it also needs to make sure that their claims are unbeatable. With price performance and energy savings as advantage, AMD should take on Intel and point these latest features to them, instead of laying back.