Sony confirms AMD deal

Will use K6-2+ in upcoming Vaio

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 22nd August 2000 12:19 GMT

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Sony has confirmed that it will bypass Intel and offer a Vaio notebook based on a mobile AMD chip - just weeks after admitting it's also building a machine around Transmeta's TM5600 chip.

Sony said the upcoming Vaio Note F series model PCG-F70/BP will contain a 550MHz AMD K6-2+ CPU. The entry-level machine is due to ship in Japan next month, alongside the Crusoe-based Vaio C1 sub-notebook.

Suggestions that Sony is no longer exclusively dealing with Intel, its traditional CPU partner, emerged earlier this month when a Sony staffer leaked the news to Japanese newswires. The source said Sony had chosen to use the Transmeta chip in the sub-notebook because of its very low power consumption. The use of the AMD, on the other hand, is more about getting the price down - hence the entry-level status of the PCG-F70/BP.

Probably just as well Sony isn't interested in power consumption on the PCG-F70/BP since, according to Nikkei newswire, presumably citing Sony itself, the machine isn't compatible with AMD's PowerNow! low-power consumption technology. Ahem - time to get some more drivers done, we think... ®