AMD refreshes Notebook Llano A-Series range

AMD has quietly rolled out incremental upgrades to the A-Series APU line-up for notebooks. This refresh will be the last for Llano before Trinity ships in H1 2012. In general, most of the new models increment CPU clock speed by 100 MHz for both base and turbo, while the GPU part remains unchanged. 

 

The first refresh, A4-3305M, is the only one which does not follow the general pattern. It features the same clock speed as the A4-3300M, but with only 1MB L2 cache. While branded HD 6480G, the GPU is different from that in other A4 APUs. Instead of 240 SP @ 444 MHz, A4-3305M features 160 SP @ 593 MHz. This suggests that unlike other A4 APUs, which are quad-cores with 2 cores disabled, A4-3305M is based on the native dual-core Llano die, which features only 160 SP. 

The remaining new models follow a similar pattern - one model for 35W and 45W APUs each, for A4, A6 and A8 series, each advancing clock speed by 100 MHz over exisiting Llano APUs. The top 35W APU will be A8-3520M, with the 45W flagship being A8-3550MX - finally breaking the 2 GHz barrier. The only existing APU to not receive a direct refresh is the A8-3510MX clocked at 1.8/2.5 GHz, which presumably will continue to fill in the void left between A8-3520M @ 1.6/2.5 GHZ and A8-3550MX @ 2/2.7 GHz. 

A similar refresh is expected for A-series Desktop APUs in early Q1 2012. Following these, the next stop for AMD's A-Series will be Trinity, releasing in first half 2012.