If you look at the title, it says two different things: one is that AMD’s VISION program is really cool and trendy, while the other is quite literal and it just says that AMD VISION is hot (like more than warm). Such word riddles are often used when one (us, for example) wants to be ironic or even sarcastic, so you can expect something really mean after such title. We will get there, just read on.
AMD CPUs might be competitive on the desktop market due to their lower price compared to Intel’s, but when it comes to notebooks, the difference in the price is a bit low, which makes them poor choice (or choice of the poor). While the average Joe user may look at CPU speed in GHz and think that it is the same thing for all processors, any enthusiast (except the AMD fanboys) will tell you that AMD mobile CPUs aren’t anywhere near late Intel’s Dual Core/Core 2 processors. We are sure that AMD would object, and that they will go into price/performance comparisons and such, but we call all this BS. Why?
There is no existing AMD mobile CPU that can compare on MHz vs. MHz manner neither as performance, nor as consumption to Intel’s Core 2 processors, including all those Dual Core CPUs, as they all use the same Merom and Penryn cores as the higher end product lineups, and that is especially true when working on battery. AMD doesn’t have an aquedate answer to Intel’s dominion on the mobile market so far, and even on basic level their new low voltage processors still struggle to catch up with Intel’s CULV platform (we will get to it too some day). All we get from AMD is the VISION thing, which is, for them, another way to tell you that AMD wants to set up the trends on the mobile market in a manner similar to how Intel did it with Centrino. But AMD’s no Intel, so they came up with VISION.
First of all, VISION on its base is very good idea. Much too often people don’t really have a clue what they are buying. So they go to the store, they ask the consultant, he tells them it’s good for whatever they want it and they buy it. With VISION they would know that if it’s rated something, it will do it. We like the idea. But it means we should have at least 10 levels of VISION and none of them should be AMD idea, thanks but no thanks! Right now VISION is:
- VISION – Basic is for people who use productivity tools like Microsoft® Office and who surf the web, maybe listen to music and look at their photos you get – you get a Caspian or worse – a Lion core (seems that AMD really likes Chronicles of Narnia) based notebook with Radeon HD3200 or HD4200 integrated graphics. In any case it is slower than budget Intel based system with GMA 4500 for tasks that require CPU and behaves the same for 3D or videoacceleration (up to L4 H264, too low FPS for games). Suitable for HD video as well if you use the right player (which is not Windows Media Player), no matter if someone tells you otherwise.
- VISION – Premium is for those who also want to watch High-definition and Blu-rays, edit photos and play some games – lol, you can finish with Mobility Radeon HD4570 instead of HD4670 or GeForce GT 240M and still play sime games. Question is “Which games?”. And what does that “edit photos” mean? You can edit them ony our phone too! Go buy something with T6600 or even P8600, no need to even look at those Turions.
- VISION – Ultimate is for the video editor and 3D game player – yeah, righty for the mighty… AMD don’t even have a processor suitable for video editing. You need a Core 2 Quad (or better -Core i7) or at least 2.6 GHz Penryn-based processor with lots of cache for video editing. Do AMD have such processor? Turion II Ultra Dual-Core M640? That freaking thing fries eggs! As for games – name one manufacturer that makes high-end notebooks with AMD processors? See?
We’ve just came back from looking at AMD VISION web site here. Our initial idea was to actually comment all the stuff they got written there, but it’s such acrap that doesn’t even deserve… Anyway, here are two comments:
Everyday Use with VISION
Listen to music, e-mail friends, surf the Internet, view photos, or watch DVDs and online videosEveryday Use with VISION − Premium
Your photos, websites, and HD movies will look outstanding, with support for as many as one billion colors, plus crisp images that look incredibly lifelike
Stare upon it for a minute and realize that they’ve just told you that you need computer to do all that stuff. You get it with VISION Basic. You will also get it with cheap Dual Core T4300, or even Dual Core 13-inch ULV notebook. We couldn’t think of a connection between all those “billions of colours” and AMD’s computer hardware. C’mon, even 10 years old S3 videocard has same colours…
VISION – Premium for entertainment
Includes multi-core processors that let you use multiple programs at the same time. Select systems offer graphics that provide full 1080p HD video support.VISION – Ultimate for entertainment
Cutting-edge, high-definition performance with high-end multi-core processors and top-quality discrete graphics cards that support DirectX® 10.1
Includes multi-core processors that run hotter than Intel ones and do the multiple programs job slower than Intel CPUs. Kind of missing the point here, AMD. And FullHD support is offered even at basic level, but AMD doesn’t know even their own stuff. Or they admit their lower end CPUs and graphic cards can’t run HD smoothly? As for the Ultimate – we’ve already told you AMD doesn’t have high-end mobile CPUs, no need to say more.
How twisted is the whole VISION thing?
10/10, because AMD doesn’t even have a high-end mobile processor to fit their own VISION Ultimate category. Plus it’s just PR crap.
Higher Twisted Rating is worse!
Next time we will see how AMD thinks the battery life should (or cannot) be measured. Stay tuned!
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