AMD is reportedly on the verge of releasing a tablet-specific implementation of its C-50 Fusion APU (“accelerated processing unit”). By relying on a simplified I/O controller, the device — set for a debut in a new Acer tablet — will offer accelerated HD graphics and consume just five Watts, according to the PC Watch website.

AMD calls its "Fusion" processors APUs because they combine x86-compatible "Bobcat" CPUs with on-chip GPUs (graphics processing units). While recent Intel offerings (such as the Sandy Bridge Cores) do the same thing, AMD's are touted as offering better graphics: Intel's chips can only manage DirectX 10, whereas the Fusion offerings do "full" DirectX 1; they also have dedicated hardware for HD video (H.264, VC-1, and MPEG2 decoding), according to AMD.

Mobile versions of the new "Fusion" processors finally were announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month: the 1.6GHz E-350, 1.5GHz E-240, 1.0GHz C-50, and 1.2GHz C-30. Some of these chips (listed above) have already been adopted in portable computers: Acer's Aspire One 522, HP's Pavilion DM1, Lenovo's ThinkPad X120e, MSI's U270, and Toshiba's Satellite C655D.

Subsequently, AMD announced five G-Series Fusion parts (above) — with clock speeds ranging from 1.0GHz to 1.6GHz — that took AMD's fight against the Atom into embedded territory. According to AMD's analysis (below), its two-chip platform is about 13 percent smaller than Intel's Atom E6xx platform, and 60 percent smaller than the Atom 4xx/5xx ("Pineview") platforms.

AMD's Fusion chipsets offer smaller footprints than those for Intel's Atom
Source: AMD
(Click to enlarge)

Lowering power consumption to rival Intel

It's clear from the above that AMD's Fusion chipset, at 19 x 19mm for the APU and 23 x 23mm for the controller hub, is not only more compact than Atom solutions, but also more graphically adept. But, as we've commented in the past, with TDPs of 9 Watts or 18 Watts, Fusion remains something of a power glutton compared to Intel's Oak Trail. These figures make it uncompetitive in the burgeoning tablet market.

In order to fix this problem, AMD plans to pair its dual-core, 1.0GHz C-50 with a simplified I/O controller, achieving a TDP of just 5 Watts, according to PC Watch reporter Kasahara Kazuteru. Unlike the A50M used by the E-Series and C-Series, or the A55E used by the G-Series, the tablet-specific controller will save power by delivering only a single USB port and a lower RAM limit, AMD CTO Joe Macri is said to have explained.

An Acer tablet equipped with AMD's 1.0GHz C-50 and new I/O controller

PC Watch claims the first tablet to use the C-50 along with the new controller will be from Acer. The unnamed device (above) will be sold with a detachable keyboard accessory and will be available "in the coming months," according to the story.

Meanwhile, Netbook News has published benchmarks of Toshiba's NB500D, a version of the previously released, Intel-equipped NB520 that now becomes one of the first netbooks to employ the C-50. According to the website, the device has CPU performance that's a little bit slower than an equivalent with Intel's dual-core Atom N550, but also has slightly improved consumption and much faster graphics.

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