AMD Live takes on Intel's Viiv

With Intel's Viiv platform garnering lots of attention, it's no surprise that rival AMD is getting onboard the entertainment PC bandwagon, coming up with its own tag for PCs that meet certain hardware/software specs, dubbed AMD Live!, complete with hyperactive exclamation point. The designation, already in use in some professional audio and video systems, indicates that the desktop or laptop bearing the logo is designed for multimedia and home-theater applications.

Desktops will feature an Athlon 64 X2 dual-core CPU and 7.1 audio, and notebooks will also use AMD dual-core chips. The system is designed to emphasize the currently trendy "10-foot" living room PC experience.

ATI is a major partner in the plan, announcing that it was prepared to offer several hardware and software products for AMD Live systems. In a press release, ATI's Rick Bergman said, "AMD Live experiences will provide users with the opportunity to take advantage of ATI's expertise in consumer electronics and multimedia solutions to turn unimaginable computing capabilities into an everyday reality."

Along with its Avivo display technology, some of the products ATI plans to include in AMD Live systems are the Radeon X1000 series of graphics cards and the All-in-Wonder and TV Wonder multimedia cards.

Other announced partners include Alienware, ATI Technologies, Broadcom, Motorola, Nero Inc., Nvidia, and Via Technologies.