Irvine (CA) – AMD does not have a dedicated chip that would be able to aim at all the market segments addressed by Intel’s Atom processor. Offering an aging entry-level processor to compete in the "Ultra-Value-Client" market is really just a half-baked solution for AMD to ride the low-end PC wave right now, but even if AMD isn’t pumping out enough processors to match Intel’s Atom volume, the company was successful in placing the products at the very bottom of the market. And we are not talking about netbooks, but about notebooks here.   

Following a $298 desktop PC with AMD’s Athlon 2650e processor, the chip is now also available in a notebook for $430. At this price, the system may be an option for users who are looking for a very basic computer, but simply want a larger screen than what the average netbook offers.

The model eMD620-5777 comes with a 14.1” screen, a 160 GB hard drive and a DVD burner. In addition to the 1.6 GHz, 15-watt processor, the system includes 1 GB of memory as well as integrated ATI Radeon x1200 graphics, which uses a shared memory approach and will use the system memory for its frame buffer needs. Emachines did not say which operating system will be installed on these notebooks (which will be sold at Best Buy locations beginning November 1), but the specs suggest that a Windows Vista version would not make a whole lot of sense.  

The eMD620-5777 is about as simple as a notebook can be these days, but the $430 price tag may be enticing for those who want a traditional form factor notebook for web browsing or simple office tasks.