The Ultimate AMD Trinity Notebook List

Just finished reading a good portion of this thread wow! great discussions on amd vs intel here.
My general consensus from reading so far would be the OEM's are falling short on amd ultrathins VS intel ultrabooks.

I am looking for a ultrabook/ultrathin right now. I can't decide what I should do. Play the waiting game or just get a stop gap till something that fits my bill comes out.

I sold all my tablets (nexus 7/Galaxy 10.1 and ipad2). Then my old Dv4 AMD for 300(purchused in 2010 for 650). I have 1000$ from that. Considering i got my ipad2/galaxy tab for free and got what i paid for my nexus 7, I am happy.

ASUS Transformer Book

The Transformer book looks amazing. Laptop+Tablet. Perfect. I dislike android/ios. Far more productive off a real OS like windows 8. The intel4000 will not really be up to gaming? Plus that laptop will be easily 1500$ when it comes out. Knowing hanswell is coming with 30% better performance for graphics and apparently far better battery life..... I sorta think I should pass on this laptop even though it fits everything i want out of a laptop...

Now if i skip this, AMD land...

This lenovo s405 for 530 CAD looks pretty good. I can give up touchscreen detachable idea for now...
Lenovo Ideapad S405 AMD A8 4555M 4GB 500GB 14in USB3.0 Windows 8 Slim Notebook - DirectCanada


I really wish there was a AMD Trinity ultrathin coming out with
1.11/13/14 inch detachable 5-10point multi touch screen/trackpad
2.miracast WIFI
3.5-10 hour battery life(unDocked 5/docked 10)
4.Capable of handeling StarCraft 2/Some modern FPS games at medium GFX and outputed to my 55INCH at 1080p


Any suggestions on what the best Ultrathin is right now? I dont need a TRUE gaming laptop. I want a ultrathin/ultrabook sized laptop that can still play games at medium or low and outputting onto a 55INCH Tv.

so far
probook 647b
u38
s405
look like the best out there to choose from?

 

I say wait at lest for the U38N, it may not be detachable but it does have touchscreen and 1080P IPS display, and at 3.4lb it's lighter than the Samsung Ativ SmartPC Pro (core i5 ULV) with the docking keyboard. Also AMD claimed that it had at least 6 more tablets/convertibles coming, so might want to wait until CES.

 

I bought a Lenovo Edge E535 laptop yesterday from a 3rd party vendor at amazon.

Lenovo Edge E535 32605VU unit that I bought has details of: AMD A6-4400M 2.7GHz, 15.6" screen, 500GB HDD, 4GB memory (1 DIMM, with open slot for a 2nd DIMM), and most importantly (to me) Windows 7 Pro.

I got the unit for $432 (shipping included).

Likely won't be shipped until sometime Monday, so I still have more than a day to cancel if anyone here thinks there's a better deal at this price point for an "all-around" general laptop.

 

seems best to wait for CES.
AMD finally is going to have some presence with designs for both Tablet and Ultrathin.

 

I'm considering a convertible tablet. Hopefully they do offer a decent configured AMD one.

 

There is this Asus - K Series 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Matte Light Indigo - K55N-BA8094C
It has an A8 which is quad core (A6 is dual core) and its an ASUS but it only has Windows 7. Still you can upgraded it to Windows 8 Pro for $15 and it costs $380. The thinkpad probably has better build quality being a business laptop, but its much slower.

 

Also there is this HP Pavilion dv6 7138us Laptop Computer With 156 Screen And Next Gen AMD Quad Core A10 Accelerated Processorc by Office Depot for $465 but it has been out of stock for a while.
Another one with windows 8 and in stock http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/100879/HP-Envy-dv6-7245us-Laptop-Computer/ for $550.

 

1st thank you for posting an interesting alternative.

Anyway I've already seen more than a few here (notebookreview) state that the AMD A8-4500M 2.2 GHz processor (4 cores) is likely better than the AMD A6-4400M 2.7 GHz processor (2 cores) that I'm lined up to pay for tomorrow (Monday).

And that $380 price at BestBuy (your ref above) is OK.

OTOH it only has Win7-home and not the Pro version that I want. And the Lenovo Edge E535 likely has a slightly better keyboard.

FWIW I just got done spending about 4 hours at newegg looking through their list of 388 laptops that have Win7-Pro as the operating system. Paying the most attention to the most expensive at ~$2,500.

The 2 main things you get for 2 grand 15.6" laptop are a high def screen and a faster CPU.

I can live without either of these.

Out of honest curiosity, do you actually own a recent laptop with the AMD A8-4500M 2.2 GHz processor?

I tend to only do one thing at a time on my PC, and even more likely to only do one thing at a time on my new laptop.

Given that, why wouldn't the A6 CPU at 2.7GHz be faster than the A8 CPU at 2.2 GHz?

 

I wouldn't touch Windows 8 with a 10' pole.

At least not now. Maybe in 12+ months?

 

First of all more and more programs these days use more than one core, and at these cases the performance of the A8 is on a completely different level than the A6. Now there is also the GPU which is much faster on the A8. And the windows 7 can easily be upgraded to pro.
I don't have a laptop yet, but I am waiting for one to arrive, though that one has an A10.

 

Do you know what it costs to upgrade Win7-home to Win7-Pro?

I took a quick look at newegg's list of OS software, but that wan't in their list.

Assuming I get this Lenovo Edge E535 32605VU laptop, I'll post in this thread what I think of the general response of it's AMD A6-4400M 2.7 GHz processor (2 cores). And it also just occurred to me to search this thread for "e535" to check if any new owners have already said anything in this already long thread.

I'll keep an eye out for your comments on your new laptop with an A10 processor (4 cores). What brand/model did you order?

 

I already posted it here a couple of pages back, but it is an ASUS N56DP with matte 1080p IPS display, AMD A10-4600M, AMD Radeon HD 7730M 2GB, 8GB DDR3 1600MHz ram, 1TB HDD, DVD Super-Multi Burner, ASUS SonicMaster Premium co-developed with Bang & Olufsen ICEpower(speakers) which includes Waves MaxxAudio 3 professional sound processing tools and N series external subwoofer, 2.0MP HD webcam, 300Mbps wireless n receiver with Bluetooth 4.0, Gbit Ethernet, Windows 8, Ports include 4 USB 3.0, 1 LAN, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, Headphone-out, Microphone-in, Subwoofer audio-out, 4-in-1 card reader. ($799 + NO TAX & Free shipping on TigerDirect, ASUS N56DP-DH11 Laptop Computer - AMD Quad-Core A10-4600M 2.3GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7730G, 15.6 Full HD, Windows 8 64-bit at TigerDirect.com)
It weighs 5.95lb and is 1-1.28in thick.

Although i bought mine from XOTICPC with 6X Blu-Ray Writer upgrade for $938 + NO TAX.

 

Well I saw a few priced differently, cheapest i saw so far was $77, but you might find a cheaper OEM copy.

 

WOW! check this out Microsoft Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU) - Windows 7 Home Premium to Ultimate Upgrade: Computers : Walmart.com Windows 7 Home Premium to Ultimate for $107.

Yea several sites had the W7 Home Premium to Professional upgrade but now it is discontinued, so the cheapest thing I can find is upgrade to Windows 8 pro from Windows 7 for $15.

 

What are the specs of your current computer?

Id say it depends on what you're planning on using the E535 for. The A6 lacks the better igpu and the extra 2 cores as well as the extra L2 Cache the A8 offers. However, I don't think this'll matter much in the real world use if what you're planning on using the laptop is all but basic tasks which even the lowliest of cpus can easily handle (this isn't Brazos btw).

Edit: You could upgrade to an A10 at a later time if you find out the A6 just isn't enough for what you're doing. The difference in the performance jump (from A6-to-A10) will be bigger than going from A8-to-A10.

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

I just don't get what all the complaining about windows 8 is about, and the start menu isn't even that useful, and there are also ways of getting it on windows 8.

 

I have two Brazo laptops (E-350s), and they are fast enough even with single channel RAM, although that doesnt mean I wouldnt like it to be better. The Trinity A6 should be alright in just general web and office use. Although, I personally went for the A6-3410MX for a cheap Llano based notebook gift for my brother, which was a quad core compared to Trinity A6 series dual core. And unfortunately they are not real full cores, seeing as they share a floating point unit. That Llano A6-3410MX was great for general use even though low clocked.

 

Start Menu:

(a) It's been part of the OS since Windows 95 was released 17 years ago - yes it's important and useful
(b) It's so useful that Microsoft decided to make a whole OS around it - so yes it's important and useful
(c) the ways of getting in Windows 8 are third party
(d) It's the whole point that they could have/should have made it an option to include it on the desktop, but they didn't, and could have easily.

Anyone who does a lot of multitasking finds Windows 8 cumbersome and broken. I have nothing against Windows 8 per se, just that there's no real reason to upgrade to it if you have Windows 7 for a traditional desktop or laptop PC. It's really geared towards touch screen, and at that it does well. But why on earth they decided to integrate a touchscreen OS as part of a mouse/keyboard OS is beyond comprehension.

 

WINDOWS SEVEN TIL DEATH

It's the first time i don't even try a new windows release. I just don't need it. W7 is perfect to me.

 

I only have a nearly 2 year old netbook w/9.8" diagonal screen, running Win XP, the specs of which hardly matter anymore.

So a real laptop is a real adventure for me.

FWIW my current desktop PC's all use recent AMD CPUs.

The downsides of the 15.6" Lenovo Edge E535, that I'm considering, are a somewhat marginal screen and somewhat marginal cpu/gpu performance (compared to the i5 based Lenovo Edge E530). OTOH it is going to cost me close to $100 less than the E530.

All of the price checking I've done, getting one for $432 (shipping included) is an OK deal given that it comes already installed with Win7-Pro.

OTOH this isn't likely to be a gangbuster Xmas.

Of course the sales spin is already out, LOL! Matched only by political spin during the just past presidential election.

Meaning that I don't have to have a new laptop by Xmas.

And if sequestration comes to pass (meaning congress doesn't pass anything, forcing the USA into recession) that will cause some serious sales to actually happen. FWIW I hope that this doesn't happen!

Interesting thought; i.e. upgrading the A6 to an A10! Big wow if I can do that with Lenovo E535 unit!

Who/where would I buy an A10 cpu from?

And would it really be a drop-in replacement with the A6 cpu?

In 2nd post of this thread, you posted this:
"Trinity:
A6-4455M 17W: P638
A6-4400M 35W: P803
A8-4555M 19W: P674 (single channel memory, 1x4GB 1600 RAM running at 1333 per APU)
A8-4500M 35W: P959
A10-4655M 25W: P1030
A10-4600M 35W: P1338"

So either of these A10 cpu's would work?
(given that wattage is same or less than that of A6-4400M)

 

No, not all processors will work, only the 35W ones would. The ones with 25W and less TDPs use BGA package so it won't work. The A10-4600M might work if the BIOS of your motherboard supports it.

 

Also depends on the cost of upgrade and whether you actually need it. For example here's one from China on Ebay for $129.49. Risky, but its available.

E535 easy access panel from notebookcheck (notice missing discrete GPU on the motherboard):

 

I took a look; my hunch is that I wouldn't buy an A10-4600M cpu to upgrade for a year or more. By then the price might be lower?

That's a thorough review of the Lenovo Edge E535. I rather like the Maintenance section comments which starts with: "The Thinkpad Edge E535 offers great and comfortable maintenance possibilities. Compared to the Thinkpad Edge E525 there is noticeable improvement. ..."

When you went from A4-3300M (35W) to A8-3510MX (45W) in your Lenovo Edge E425, how much of a performance improvement did you notice?

I assume both are Llano as the A8-3510MX (45W) isn't in the list in your 2nd post in this thread, which shows:
"Llano:
A4-3300M 35W: P625
A6-3400M 35W: P701
A8-3500M 35W: P830
A8-3550MX 45W: P903"

And does Lenovo provide bios updates for their laptop motherboards? Or if not Lenovo, maybe it's provided by the manufacturer that actually builds the motherboard?

 

Some ridiculous Cyber Monday deals on Amazon click on the link Laptops, Notebooks, Laptop Computers :Amazon.com its worth checking out!

 

As for the A10, yup it'll most likely be cheaper, or Trinity 2.0 APUs might be available as well and maybe even Kaveri by then (I sure hope so). Just saying. You might just realize it was enough to hold you through.

That's one of the nicest things about the new E435 and the E535 is the easy access panel/compartment (unlike my E425 which requires a lot more work to get at the APU. And yea, the displays Lenovo uses in the Edge products are mediocre in picture quality (sure could use better viewing angles). I'm not sure if the E535 has an mSATA port but my E425 sure doesn't. At least I've got the optical drive bay (sata2).

Anyways, the performance increase was typical of what these mobile Llano APUs are capable of (plus overclocking). Just look up benchmarks, stats, etc. and it'll likely be the same. I didn't do many benchmarks except for a few GPU tests. Gameplay within games became smoother (higher average and peak FPS) and in some games the use of higher resolutions was possible whereas the A4 wouldn't cut it. For basic tasks though, there wasn't too much of difference that I could tell. Battery life remained similar and even overall cpu/gpu temps remained similar. I wouldn't say the A4 was slow for the simple tasks i was doing (email, office productivity, browser, youtube, facebook, minecraft, that sorta thing) because it was also able to overclock to 2.7GHz using FusionTweaker (or K10Stat) and that really squeezed out ever last ounce of muscle the A4 had. I can overclock my A8 to 2.5GHz without over doing it. Even without this OCing it was still sufficient. My SSDs sure helped with load times (read and write) so that's partly why I didn't feel too much of a difference. My Windows Experience Index showed there was an increase... The most noticeable performance increase came from the graphics side (1600 RAM for the 6620G, more shader units, higher core clocks, etc.).

Yes Lenovo provides BIOS updates but its not very often. The most recent BIOS update for my E425 for example came with the release of Windows 8 (it added W8 secure boot support). Usually OEMs provide this type of support, but you're right it could even be the manufacturer that makes the motherboards (im not sure if its Lenovo or a contractor).

 

Thanks for the ref; 16 of the above units have 15.6" screens and I took a good long look at those, especially the ones in the $800-to-$1,000 price range which have high def screens.

Bottom line for me is that I'm going to take delivery on the Lenovo Edge E535 that I've already ordered. When it shows up I'll carefully try it out and also call up Lenovo with a few key questions.

Given that the E535 isn't that expensive, it gets me started and leaves my options open in the near future.

One step at a time and all that.

 

yes.
Windows 8 IS windows 7 with some evolution. people are really distractable... they love that button like they loved XP.
and, as I posted elsewhere, odds are very high that MS will put back the option they took away - they had a setup config option to use the same UI as 7 has, but somebody nixed it at MS.
SP1 put it back? but to me, the diffs between them are elsewhere - i slapped classic shell [freebee] on 8 and it fixed the Start issue - my concern is that there is some rendering diff that I have not found answer to that makes display on big screen ugly - big in this case 46". could not remedy via Catalyst controls, different drivers, etc. they are making it fit for small handhelds, which they do need... but the bigger the display, the worse things appear

 

Hi guys,

I just saw this from the post above:

Is that real? the A8-4555m, despite having the full 384 shaders, scores almost half of the a10-4655m?
Or is it just because of the single channel memory?

I'm looking at a laptop here in my country (Samsung NP535U4C) and unlike what I usually see in the net, instead of an A10, it has an A8-4555m inside.
I'm thinking of buying it for Diablo 3 and Dota 2.
Do you guys think it can handle those games? If ever I upgrade the RAM to dual channel?

Thanks in advance.

 

That score is definitely due to single channel RAM. It should easily be over P900 with dual channel. The P674 is about on par with the Intel HD 4000 IGP, so if Diablo can run on that then likely it will be fine with the A8-4555m.

 

Great deals , Samsung 535U4C priced at $700 on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, while regular time used to cost $650... I think should not cost more than $599...

 

Sadly, it is true. For many laptops there is always that time of the year when things are the cheapest, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday is just not the case. At this point it is like second best.

 

Yeah I noticed that too. Was hoping it'd drop to $600 or less. I would have nabbed it for sure.

 

Looks like I might be able to get a Trinity ultraportable soon. I finally got a job again and today was my first day! Weeee, soo happy! And of all places I'm working full time at a (small business owner) computer store! Now I'll get paid to do what I've been doing all this time (troubleshooting, repair, os and software installations, etc.) Just had to share this with yall as I haven't been able to find a job since March of 2011.

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

Congrats on your new job!

 

Thanks a lot man!

Just to be clear: you're saying that an A8-4555m on dual channel is on par with a HD4000? Or your talking about an A8-4555m on single channel RAM?

Edit:
To add, around how much slower would the A8-4555m be compared to the A10-4600m?
30%?

 

The A8-4555M on single channel, with dual it should be considerably faster.

 

Just for reference and comparison against Trinity, here's my A8-3510MX plus my weak 6470M/7450M/7470M (I'm not even sure anymore), on stock clocks and overclocked, single and dual graphics using 12.11 beta 8, 12.10 chipset drivers, and 12.11cap1 profiles.


6620G_3dmark11_12.11b8_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


7470M_3dmark11_12.11b8_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


2.5-2.8GHz_6620G_3dmark11_12.11b8_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


2.5-2.8GHz_7470M_3dmark11_12.11b8_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


DG_6620G_3dmark11_12.11b8_02 by davidc646, on Flickr


DG_7470M_3dmark11_12.11b8_02 by davidc646, on Flickr

Trinity:
A6-4455M 17W: P638
A8-4555M 19W: P674 (single channel memory, 1x4GB 1600 RAM running at 1333 per APU)
A6-4400M 35W: P803
A8-4500M 35W: P959
A10-4655M 25W: P1030
A10-4600M 35W: P1338


Llano:
A4-3300M 35W: P625
A6-3400M 35W: P701
A8-3500M 35W: P830
A8-3550MX 45W: P903


I wouldn't mind finding out how these HD 4000 scores:
Core i7-3920XM 4/8 2.9 GHz 3.8 GHz 8 MByte 55 Watt 650-1300MHz
Core i7-3820QM 4/8 2.7 GHz 3.7 GHz 8 MByte 45 Watt 650-1250MHz
Core i7-3720QM 4/8 2.6 GHz 3.6 GHz 6 MByte 45 Watt 650-1250MHz
Core i7-3610QM 4/8 2.3 Ghz 3.3 GHz 6 MByte 45 Watt 650-1100MHz

 

Thanks bro.

I'd better go buy one now, benchmark it and take one for the team.

 

I just received my 840 Pro and I am super excited. Too bad I can't use it until my laptop arrives

Also on the installation guide it shows the SATA-USB adapter for data migration, but there wasn't any in the box.
Am I supposed to buy it separately or it was supposed to be included?

 

on a quick glance I don't see such an adapter included "in the box". would be surprised if I did.
There are all kinds of ways to do the job: what most peeps are concerned about is whether they have personal documents, pictures, bookmarks, movies, etc on the hard drive that is to be removed. you can send such copies to a "cloud" storage [I hate that term] or you can just move them to a USB memory stick [flash memory, thumb drive, whatever the term] or use cables, lan-connected other computers, servers, etc. the point is to safely move such personal things to a temporary holding location, install your SSD, install windows 7 or 8 on the SSD, then copy/paste that stash wherever you want it on your new SSD.

the kind of adapter they seem to mention is a tool that usually costs 20-40 bucks for a good one that will do multiple drive interfaces. I have such... a "must" for my work. if sata with normal 'standard' connectors were the only issue, one can simply buy an external sata drive enclosure and use that... you can get a good one for less than 10 bucks on sale

 

$479.99 + $6.38 shipping
In Stock. Sold by TigerDirect, Inc.
Samsung 13.3" matte NP535U3C A6-4455M 500GB 5400RPM (meh, id use it as a back up and SSD it up) 4GB DDR3 (plus one free sodimm) Windows 7 HP x64

HP Pavilion dv6-7138us (B5R06UA#ABA) AMD Quad-Core A10-Series APU for Notebooks with AMD Radeon HD 7660G Graphics 15.6inch 6GB RAM 640GB HD Windows 7 Home Premium
Starting at $465.93

HP Pavilion g4-2235dx (C3Q50UA) AMD Dual-Core A6-Series APU for Notebooks with AMD Radeon HD 7520G Graphics 14inch 4GB RAM 500GB HD Windows 8
Starting at $369.99

Asus K55N-BA8094C (ecx-Bes-US-6087209) AMD Quad-Core A8-Series APU for Notebooks with AMD Radeon HD 7640G Graphics 15.6inch 4GB RAM 500GB HD Windows 7 Home Premium
Starting at $379.99

 

Samsung does include its Data Migration Software though, and i need to transfer the whole disk most likely, including operation system (depending on how much bloatware there is and i don't have any personal data on it since it hasn't shipped yet), If there is over 75GB of bloatware I will just clean install since I am planning on upgrading to windows 8 Pro (right now there is so much sale on the Pro version that it is as cheap as the upgrade version so clean installing won't bother me.)

 

Just do a clean install directly and don't worry about data migration when switching drives on a brand new computer.

 

Wow! That Asus is a bargain. $379 for A8-4500m, although too bad it's not a 4600m. But definitely a good disposable laptop. Maybe buy one for my kids since their 3 year old Core 2 ULV netbooks are pretty banged up. But I think 15.6" is too big for them (me) to lug around when they visit grandma and aunt.

 

things that don't work aren't a bargain. this one appears to be diseased. asus continues to unimpress with their hit-or-miss QA. for the kids get the 14" HP A6 for 369.. weak processor i know..

in other news: heard locally last night that AMD is selling off their property in Austin - once a flourishing campus with lots of techie workers. they need the cash.
i just hope some good outfit buys the ATI unit and lets that part flourish. I'd hate to see Nvidia with a monopoly on the pc biz.

 

They are selling the property in order to lease it back. Instant cash on hand in exchange for a monthly expense. Not uncommon.

 

I would but there should be useful software pre-installed on it, so I want to keep that. Also it is much faster to just migrate the data than to install and update windows + drivers and other important programs. Updates are already a headache even without clean install.

 

Finally got an email from XoticPC saying that my order was confirmed. Sadly they still haven't done the customization, going to take a week or two before I get my laptop.

 

Waiting more than you'd want to for your new hardware sucks. You'll be happy once UPS shows up to your front door though. I'm interested to see how good the IPS display is on that N56DP. I've decided that my next laptop has to include an IPS-like display. These crappy TNs panels just ain't cutting anymore.

 

I've tried the Samsung transfer software. It has a hard time going from a larger drive to a smaller one. I ended up using EaseUS Todo Backup Free to move my wife's install from the 500GB spinner to the 128GB Samsung 830.