AMD A10-4600M Pro Reviews

At this point, AMD has done everything they can to provide a compelling mobile solution. The difficulty is that there's no longer a single laptop configuration that will be "best" for everyone, and Trinity only serves to further muddy the water. Intel continues to offer better CPU performance, and if you need graphics—which mostly means you want to play games—they have a good partner with NVIDIA. AMD on the other hand is delivering better integrated graphics performance with less CPU power, and depending on what you want to do that might be a more well rounded approach to mobile computing. What we need to see now are actual laptops and their prices. To trot out a tired old saying once more, "There are no bad products; only bad prices." Now it's up to AMD's partners to make sure Trinity laptops are priced appropriately.

The Trinity-based A10-4600M APU is an improvement on virtually all fronts versus its predecessor, the Llano-derived A8-3500M, purely on the strength of architectural updates. Although the Bulldozer CPU microarchitecture has been something of a disappointment on the desktop, its updated "Piledriver" module has delivered unambiguous benefits in this new mobile chip, in part because of a big boost in clock speeds. We even saw a nice gain in the lightly threaded SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, a fact that warms our cold, calculating hearts, since weak single-threaded performance has been one of our major concerns about recent AMD processors. The refreshed IGP in Trinity offers somewhat higher performance, as well, which is enough to make it the undisputed champ of this segment. And yes, Trinity manages to combine these performance gains with substantially better battery life than Llano within the same power envelope. In pitching Trinity to the press, AMD repeatedly emphasized the subjective user experience and downplayed the importance of benchmarks. Take a look at our CPU performance results—even keeping in mind the 10W handicap the A10 had to deal with—and you'll understand why they might not want to see that comparison emphasized too much. Still, it is a fair point to note that one can't always perceive differences in CPU performance these days.

AMD Trinity APUs are another step in the right direction that helps keep AMD on pace with Intel's mainstream notebook offerings.

Trinity is finally here. In comparison to Llano, it is much improved and has a new architecture despite having similar structural dimensions. We're definitely pleased by the improved power usage while idle, an important area that AMD clearly has the advantage on over Intel. The Radeon HD 7660G chip sets new standards for IGPs and leaves the brand-new Intel HD Graphics 4000 behind in the dust. In our benchmarks, the IGP was able to reach the level of a Mobility Radeon HD 5650. Also worth mentioning: the great GPU Compute performance (with OpenCL & DirectCompute) should open up new doors for novice programmers and general users. The integrated Video Transcoding unit (AVC) tries to compete with Intel's QuickSync, but the overall performance boost is not enough to dethrone the Intel encoding solution.

AMD’s Trinity-based APU doesn’t unseat Sandy Bridge from its position of performance supremacy. Nor will it oust Ivy Bridge when third-gen Core i5-based notebooks start to appear. But it sure holds up a lot better than Llano. Perhaps more significant, though, is that it boosts graphics performance significantly. Although Trinity devastates HD Graphics 3000, it’ll be able to use that extra speed to help stave off forthcoming Ivy Bridge-based parts with HD Graphics 4000, too. If you’re a casual gamer, it’s pretty easy to recommend the Trinity-based A10-4600M over Intel’s Core i5-2450M. Conversely, if you don’t plan on gaming at all on your mobile device, the Sandy Bridge-based Core i5 becomes the easier choice. That’s almost the same conclusion we reached when Llano was launched.

It's been tough going for AMD in the conventional x86 chip market of late. Its long-awaited Bulldozer architecture was a particular disappointment on the desktop. But AMD is looking much more competitive in the mobile segment. The new AMD A10-4600M has the makings of a very successful chip for thin-and-light notebooks. Buyers looking for affordable laptops in the Ultrabook idiom but with a little extra graphics gumption would be well advised for the first retail systems with this impressive little chip to appear.