AMD's Puma tried and tested 11/08/2008

The Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pa 3553 is one of the first laptops to use AMD's latest and greatest mobile chipset - we take a look at what it has to offer.

The AMD M780G platform, previously codenamed Puma, offers a host of new features, such as the ability to run ATi’s Hybrid Graphics technology. The Hybrid graphics system includes ATi’s CrossFireX technology, which lets manufacturers combine a dedicated graphics card with the chipset’s integrated ATi Radeon HD 3200 GPU to give more impressive performance.

You’ll find ATi’s Mobility Radeon HD 3470 GPU inside the Amilo, offering enough performance to play mid-level games. Although powerful enough for everyday tasks, we didn’t see a noticeable performance increase over laptops without Hybrid Graphics.

While you can easily switch between dedicated and integrated graphics on Intel chipsets to improve battery life, we found ATi’s dual-graphics solution a lot less impressive when away from a power point. The Amilo Pa 3553 lasted for under 100 minutes from a single charge, so you’ll have to consider just how much you need the extra 3D performance.

The M780G platform also brings updates to AMD’s processor line-up, with the Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile range introduced. The Pa 3553 features an entry-level 2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile ZM-80 chip, backed by 3072MB of memory. Performance proved impressive – it can’t match the latest Intel Centrino 2 processors for sheer power, but we found it a match for 4th generation Centrino rivals, and it proved more than quick enough during daily use.

Our biggest complaint was the heat generated by this system – the latest AMD processors are larger than their Intel rivals – at 65nm (nanometres) verses 45nm which, combined with the dual-graphics and poor ventilation, creates a laptop that runs unpleasantly warm to the touch.