eMachines Put Mobile Athlon 64 into Mobile Action

by Anton Shilov
01/18/2004 | 05:17 PM

Without much PR hype, eMachines started to sell its Mobile AMD Athlon 64 CPU-based notebooks in the USA. The first 64-bit mobile personal computer is quoted at just a little bit more than $1500 and is targeted at enthusiasts and gamers on the go.

M6805 model from eMachines comes equipped with Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor 3000+ (1.80GHz, 1MB L2), 512MB of PC2700 memory, 60GB HDD and DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. To bring end-users a truly ultimate multimedia experience eMachines install MOBILITY RADEON 9600 graphics card and 15.4” TFT widescreen display with 1280x800 resolution. The M6805 mobile PC also build-in high-speed 802.11g WLAN; 10/100Mb/s Ethernet; V92 high-speed modem; integrated 6-in-1 media card reader, supporting CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard and IBM Microdrive. Additionally, the eMachines M6805 carry 1 FireWire and 4 USB 2.0 ports. The first ever notebook with Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors weighs 7.5lbs

Although AMD positions its Mobile Athlon 64 chips in 754-pin packaging for the market of tremendously powerful notebooks, thermal design power of Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors is 62W – just too lot and hot for mobile applications. Thanks to PowerNow! technology, the chips devour considerably less electricity under typical load, though, it is hard to believe that notebooks powered by such CPUs will be able to work several hours on battery power. As a result, virtually all mobile PCs, including eMachines M6805, that are fueled by Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors are mostly designed to replace desktops, rather than to be truly mobile PCs

Based in Irvine, California, eMachines is the fourth largest PC maker in the USA according to IDC. The privately held computer company is mostly concentrated on cost-effective PCs, though, is also known for solutions aimed at segment of advanced end-users.

BestBuy sells eMachines M6805 for $1549.99 before $100 mail-in rebate.