Arima preps Athlon 64 notebook

Reg Kit Watch

Notebook

Taiwanese manufacturer Arima is preparing a notebook based on AMD's Athlon 64 processor and ATI graphics, according to specifications posted on the company's Web site.

Before anyone gets too excited, it's worth noting that the spec. document for the machine, dubbed the A520, was produced in March or April this year and refers to the Athlon 64 by its old codename, 'K8'.

This brings to mind the HP document which slipped out in June and purported to detail an upcoming 1.8GHz Athlon 64-based desktop, the t182k.

It soon emerged that the machine was an "outdated planning document" for a computer designed for the South Korean market but never offered in the configuration listed.

The same may be true of the Arima document, so we urge caution.

The A520's processor speed is not listed, but the chip will be a 754-pin part - which pegs it as a budget system; 939- and 940-pin Athlon 64s are in the works for high-spec. machines. The 754 pin-out may also be used by AMD's mobile Athlon 64s, but nothing in the Arima spec. suggests that the notebook will contain the mobile processors.

The A520 will sport either 15in or 16in displays powered by something called the ATI M9C. The notebooks contains a DVD/CD-RW combo drive, with CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives offered as alternatives. Up to 1GB of DDR SDRAM can be accommodated by the machine's two slots, while 20, 30, 40 and 60GB hard drives are offered. There's VGA-out and TV-out, a built-in 56Kbps modem and 10/100 Ethernet. Firewire/1394 is optional.

You can read the full spec. here (PDF) ®