As if the ARM crowd wasn't enough competition, Intel's Clover Trail platform will also have to face an AMD platform on the Windows 8 battlefield. Named Brazos-T, AMD's solution for mobile devices targets Windows 8 tablets and is scheduled to enter production in Q2 2012.
Brazos-T is made up of two main components, the Hondo APU (accelerated processing unit), which is the successor of the currently available Desna (Z-01) chip, and the Hudson M2T chipset, which succeeds Hudson M1.
Hondo will be made on 40nm process technology and will share a lot with today's Desna APU - two x86 Bobcat cores clocked at 1 GHz and Radeon HD 6250 (DirectX 11) graphics, but, according the leaked slides below, it's going to consume less power (2W compared to 4W) and have a lower TDP (4.5W versus 5.9W on the Z-01) than its predecessor. In terms of computing power Hondo doesn't seem to bring anything new but it's obvious power draw will be lower and thus better suited for tablets.
The Hudson M2T chip comes with a TDP of about 1W and is also 'power-optimized'. The image is even more clear now, like Intel, AMD is working on bringing down the power requirements of its mobile platforms in hopes of making gains in a zone dominated by ARM-based platforms. Conclusion? More competition next year. Lovely.
