CNETAnalysis: On Wednesday, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced its new “Richland” accelerated processing units (APU) were on the way to notebook manufacturers. These Elite A-Series APUs meld both central processing and graphics processing onto one chip, and offer improved performance over the previous generation “Trinity” chips . The four new “Richland” chips are expected to start appearing in both standard and performance-built laptops in March, with desktop and low-voltage versions due out later in 2013. All of the APUs will be upgraded to Radeon HD 8000 graphics and will feature improved power management over their predecessors. Face to face Though all four of the upcoming “Richland” APUs will indeed share some similarities, certain features will only be available on several of the new chips. Both the quad-core A10 an A8 versions will be capable of facial recognition unlocking as well as gesture controls for Windows 8 . The dual-core A6 chip, along with the A10 and A8, will also offer screen mirroring, though the dual-core A4 will not be party to any of those features. All four chips were clocked at a max of 720GHz, with base speeds of 533GHz for the A10 and A6, a 515GHz base for the A8, and a 514GHz base for the A4. “The high performance AMD A-Series APU continues to impress with its ability to deliver stunning graphics and immersive experiences with even more battery life,” said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD’s Client Business Unit. “Our engineers have done a superb job of increasing processor performance while decreasing power consumption.” YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4-7bBywUSk
