AMD has just released some details about its newest tablet processor, codenamed Hondo, which will compete with Intel's Clover Trail Atom chips for use in low-end Windows 8 tablets. There actually isn't much new about the Hondo chip—it uses the same basic CPU architecture and integrated graphics technology as the current E-series APUs found in AMD-powered netbooks and low-end laptops. It's also built using the same 40nm manufacturing process. In general, AMD's chips have better CPU and GPU performance than the Atom chips in competing netbooks, but will this advantage extend to tablets?

The facts: decent hardware, OK battery life, no Linux support

The Z-60 APU combines a dual-core CPU based on AMD's Bobcat architecture, as well as an integrated Radeon HD 6250 GPU. At 1GHz, the CPU is slower than the majority of the E-series CPUs you'll find in netbooks and low-end laptops using the processor. While the Bobcat architecture can usually beat Atom at the same clock speeds, the Clover Trail Atoms will be clocked quickly enough to erase AMD's CPU performance advantage.

The integrated GPU is labeled as a 6000-series part but is architecturally a 5000-series part. The GPU is still pretty advanced compared to the PowerVR SGX 545 in Clover Trail and the Direct3D 9-class GPUs paired with most current ARM chips: you get Direct3D 11, OpenGL 4.1, and OpenCL 1.1 support as well as HDMI and DisplayPort output support, and support for resolutions up to 1920x1200 (which includes 1080p support for 16:9 tablets). The GPUs also offer application acceleration for programs that support it, as well as video acceleration for codecs like MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, and VC-1 due to the inclusion of AMD's UVD3 video decoding engine.

The entire APU has a TDP of 4.5W, and according to AMD's estimates, tablets using their chip should be a bit lower than Intel's Clover Trail tablets in battery life: about eight hours during Web browsing and other general use workloads, and about six hours during video playback (Intel promises about ten hours for Clover Trail, though it doesn't specify the activity being performed). This is decent, though obviously we'd want to do our own battery life tests to make sure of these numbers. AMD also promises tablets that are as thin as 10mm (or about 0.39 inches), which is just a bit thicker than Intel's 8.5mm estimates for Clover Trail.

As for software support, the story with Hondo is much the same as it is for Clover Trail: the chip is made primarily for Windows 8, and AMD is not planning any Android or wider Linux support for the chip at this time. One difference between AMD's and Intel's tablet chips is that AMD is committing to Windows 7 support to cater to "some commercial markets that are still evaluating the different operating systems," according to AMD Product Marketing Manager Christopher Sutphen. This should make Hondo tablets marginally more appealing to businesses sticking with Windows 7, though the older version of Windows has not found much success on tablets to date.

But will OEMs actually use it in their tablets?

The biggest problem facing AMD will be getting this chip into tablets from major manufacturers; of the x86 Windows 8 tablets we've seen at IFA and other unveilings throughout the year, most manufacturers seem to be offering high-end models using Intel's Ivy Bridge processors and low-end models running either Clover Trail Atoms or ARM-based chips. AMD wouldn't provide information about which OEMs will be shipping tablets based on Hondo. Hondo's predecessor, the AMD Z-01, appeared in only one shipping tablet I can find, MSI's WindPad 110W.

One hurdle to Hondo's adoption may be that, unlike Clover Trail, the processor is not a system on a chip (SoC). The CPU and GPU are indeed one piece of silicon, but USB, SATA, and other functions are still handled by a separate chip called the Fusion Controller Hub (FCH). This particular FCH does include some features Clover Trail lacks (most notably native USB 3.0 support), but in tablets, space is still at a premium—having to use two chips instead of one takes up room inside the system that could be given over to a larger battery or shaved off entirely. The FCH also consumes extra power (according to AMD's own slides, between 0.55 and 0.68W during normal use) that has to be considered alongside the 4.5W TDP of the APU itself.

Hondo looks like a more or less viable tablet processor, but if the company can't get it into desirable tablets, it may not make much of a dent. To truly take on ARM and Atom and encourage adoption, AMD would do well to develop an SoC version of the chip manufactured on a 32nm or 28nm process. This would take up less space, consume less power, and could bring more GPU cores or ramp up clock speeds because of the extra thermal headroom. At least some of these improvements are currently rumored to be coming in "Tamesh," Hondo's replacement, which will supposedly launch at some point in 2013. Until that happens, AMD's tiny presence in the tablet market may further cement the chipmaker's slow slide into irrelevance.

We don't yet know exactly when Hondo tablets will begin showing up, but AMD says that availability is slated for later this year.

Listing image by AMD