In the last one week, AMD has rolled out a slew of new products. First, it announced today the launch of 3D professional graphics accelerator card, ATI FireGL™ V7700. The new GPU card is capable of creating photorealistic visualizations of real-world objects and environments on stereoscopic display. It is also the first commercially available 3D workstation card to support 3D on DisplayPort - the latest digital display interface standard by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) (Ref). Second, AMD announced last week the shipment of 65nm Phenom triple-core (X3) and quad-core (X4) processors for desktop PCs. When paired with AMD’s recently unveiled 780 series chipset, both Phenom X3 and X4 processors will deliver significant enhancements in gaming and high-definition experiences for mainstream PC customers, including full HD support for VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 formats (Ref). On the other hand, the AMD’s Phenom X4 9100e quad-core processors are the world’s first and most energy efficient 65W desktop quad-core processor. Lastly, AMD also announced last week the immediate availability of four new high-performance AMD Phenom™ X4 processors for the high-performance HD gaming and video users. The Phenom quad-core processor products include 9850 (2.5G, 125W), 9750 (2.4G, 125W), 9750 (2.4G, 95W), 9650 (2.3G, 95W), 9550 (2.2G, 95W), 9100e (1.8G, 65W). The Phenom triple-core processor products include 8600 (2.3G, 95W) and 8400 (2.1G, 95W).

Earlier in the month, AMD has also demonstrated its first 45nm native quad-core processors (see picture) at CeBIT in Germany. It looks like AMD is all set to fight with Intel head-on.

Last week, Steve Jobs stunned the world by launching a superslim notebook, MacBook Air (watch the video below). Immediately after the launch, AnandTech founder Anand Lal Shimpi unveiled the CPU and packaging used in the Apple’s Macbook Air (Ref). I was a little surprised to learn that the Macbook Air is using the Intel’s 65nm 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz Merom based Core 2 Duo with a 4MB L2 cache and Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated graphics. Unlike Apple’s usual style, the MacBook Air is not adopting the latest CPUs in the market - Intel’s 45nm high-k/metal-gate Penryn chips which seem a nice fit to such a slim device. In contrast, several other PC makers were already showing off their 45nm based notebooks at CES two weeks ago.

What is even more interesting is the fact that the 65nm CPU is force fitted into an extra-small chip package supposedly to be used for the Montevina SFF Centrino platform and 45nm mobile Penryn due to be launched in the second half of 2008. The new chip package is 60% smaller then the standard package (see pictures from Anantech). I guess only Apple has the muscle to flex in order to get Intel to specially tailored such a unique hybrid of 65nm chip on 45nm package.

The hybrid of 65nm CPU and 45nm package creates an unusual blend of performance characteristics. It is just above the Low Voltage (LV series) variants in terms of clock speed and power use but considerably more efficient than the regular mobile processor, which consumes 35 watts of peak power at a minimum 1.8GHz (Ref).

The question is why Apple took such a huge trouble to tailor made a hybrid part when the 45nm Penryn chips were available 3 weeks before the launch of the MacBook Air? George Ou from Zdnet suggested it could be because during the design phase of the MacBook Air, Apple was worried that the 45nm mobile Penryn chips might not be ready in time for the launch of MacBook Air at the MacWorld. To be on the safe bet, therefore Apple opted for the hybrid design instead (Ref).