Intel, VIA, and ARM have been duking it out in the low power, low price laptop market for the past three years. And while Intel’s Atom chips are the reigning champs at the moment, Freescale, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and a number of other companies with ARM-based chips could put a serious dent in Intel’s lead if so-called “smartbooks” with integrated 3G and always-connected internet access start to take off.

But what about AMD? When it comes to desktop and higher end laptop chips, AMD is Intel’s biggest rival. But the company has been all-but-absent in the netbook space. Sure, there are a few relatively low power and inexpensive chips in AMD’s lineup such as the AMD Neo MV-40. But very few laptops use that chipset, and those that do tend to get horrible battery life.

But it looks like AMD plans to start taking the netbook space more seriously in 2011. That’s when Hardware Central reports AMD will launch a new chip as part of its “Fusion” line that’s set to compete with Intel’s Atom chips.

Like the Intel Atom Pine Trail chip, AMD’s new processor will combine graphics and processing functions onto a single chip, which will use somewhere around 10 to 15 watts. That’s more power than an Atom chip uses, but much less than a typical AMD (or Intel, for that matter) laptop chip.

The primary difference between AMD’s low power chip and the Intel Atom will be that AMD’s integrated graphics will be more on-par with a dedicated graphics card. AMD owns graphics card maker ATI. So while you pretty much need a Broadcom HD video accelerator or an NVIDIA ION card in order to watch 1080p HD video on an Atom powered netbook, machines with AMD’s upcoming chip should be able to handle HD video out of the box.

The AMD processor will be aimed primarily at notebooks with screen sizes of 12 inches or less.

While entering the netbook space more than 3 years after the launch of the first netbook might seem like a bad idea, one of the biggest complaints people have about today’s netbooks is that they aren’t powerful enough to perform certain tasks. If AMD and its hardware partners market the new platform to customers looking for thin and light laptops at a reasonable price with more powerful processors and graphics than you can find from an Atom based system, the company might be able to carve out a new niche — or redefine the market. Or maybe people will just compare the new platform favorably or unfavorably to Intel’s CULV processor line.

I’ve been seeing pictures of the Acer Ferrari One 11.6 inch laptop for so long that I almost didn’t notice that it wasn’t available in the US. But it turns out that it wasn’t… until today.

The Ferrai One features a similar keyboard and form factor to Acer’s Timeline series of 11.6 inch laptops. But the Ferrari One has a more angular red lid with a Ferrari logo emblazoned on it. The computer also offers a bit more oomph in the graphics department than the Acer Aspire 1810T and other Timeline-branded notebooks. While those models have Intel CULV processors and integrated graphics, the Acer Ferrari One has a 1.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 graphics.

The laptop also features a 6 cell battery, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth. It packs 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and Acer says it should get up to 5 hours of battery life.

The Acer Ferrari One weighs 3.3 pounds and it’s available for pre-order from Amazon for $599.99.

The Dell Zino HD is a small form factor PC. We’ve been tracking it for a couple of months, and now it’s finally available for pre-order in the US and order int he UK. I also got my first look at the computer at an event in New York last night.

From the outside, the Dell Zino HD looks like the stuff of nettops. But on the inside, it has an AMD processor, ATI graphics, and comes in a variety of configurations giving you everything from basic performance to a high end PC. I was told last night that the base model will cost somewhere around $199. Unfortunately, that model’s not available from Dell.com just yet. The only configuration I’m aware of has a starting price of $807, comes with 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, ATI Radeon 4330 graphics, and a 20 inch HD display.

Dell UK has some more reasonably priced systems starting at £299 or about $496 including VAT and shipping charges. That model has ATI HD 3200 integrated graphics, 2G of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive.

Whether you get the model with integrated graphics or Radeon graphics, AMD/ATI is promising significantly better graphics performance than you’ll get from an Intel Atom nettop with GMA 950 graphics. Another thing that sets the Dell Zino HD apart from most nettops are the customizable lids that come in a variety of colors and patterns. You can find some of the tops as well as additional photos of the Zino HD after the break.

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The HP Pavilion MS214 is a budget all-in-one desktop PC. You know, kind of like the Asus Eee Top ET2002, Lenovo C100, and a whole bunch of other machines I’ve mentioned over the past few months. But while many of those models help keep the price and power consumption low by using netbook-like Intel Atom processors, the HP Pavilion MS214 has a 1.5GHz AMD Athlon X2 dual core CPU instead.

The $600 PC also packs ATI Radeon 3200 graphics, which should provide a better gaming experience than you’ll get from the integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics that come with many netbooks and low cost nettops and all-in-one systems, although I’m not 100% sure how it stacks up against a machine with NVIDIA ION graphics yet.

HP sent me a Pavilion MS214 to review, and it’s a nice looking machine. I really like the sturdy base, and the display is bright and vibrant. But here’s what I’ve learned so far:

1. The 18.5 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display could be a lot sharper. I kind of expect higher resolution graphics from a display this size.
2. Unlike the Eee Top ET2002, which ships with a wireless mouse and keyboard, the MS214 includes a USB mouse and keyboard which means you go through fewer batteries, but have a more cluttered desktop.
3. The AMD Athlon X2 dual core CPU may be more powerful than an Intel Atom 230 or 330 chip, but it’s still not fast enough to handle smooth playback from Hulu and other high quality Flash video sites in fullscreen mode. And while Flash Player 10.1 will eventually support GPU acceleration, as far as I know only NVIDIA graphics will be supported, not ATI. Update: It looks like ATI will be supporting Flash Player 10.1, although it’s not clear if all ATI graphics cards will be supported. thanks SCAxman!

That said, the HP MS214 is attractive; it doesn’t take up a lot of space; and the CPU has a bit more kick to it than those found in many other all-in-one desktops that sell for $600 or less.

The computer has 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and a SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe. It also has a 6-in-1 memory card reader, 6 USB ports, Ethernet, mic, and headphone jacks.

I’ll be putting the HP Pavilion MS214 through the paces over the next few days, but in the meantime you can take a closer look at the Windows 7 Performance index after the break, along with an unboxing video. Oh yeah, did I mention this puppy is running Windows 7? So the unit I’m reviewing is the version that will ship beginning on October 22nd.

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Up to now, AMD has spent more time bashing netbooks’ limitations as low power computing devices instead of pushing technology that can make them more powerful. But it looks like that could soon change.

AMD is expected to announce a new chip this week aimed at low cost portable computers like netbooks and MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). According to APC Magazine, the new chip will focus on two areas

1. Extending battery life
2. Boosting video performance

It’s likely that the new chip will be smaller and more energy efficient than current AMD processors. And AMD, which acquired graphics card maker ATI not too long ago, will likely use ATI’s expertise to produce a chipset with integrated graphics capabilities that will allow for decent high def video playback without burning down your battery in a matter of seconds. 

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