Image by Sam Posten.
I had the pleasure of working and mingling with several tech and entertainment bloggers and some agency folks at AMD's cozy and chill event to roll out their Vision line of platforms for computers and laptops. In a nutshell, the line, with three levels suiting three levels of user, is a fully capable system focusing on entertainment value and especially video capability.
It all may sound a little abstract at first but the get together was a nice way of putting the actual computers in a room and having everyone check it out. Basically what AMD does is provide the hardware for computer makers such as HP or Dell or what have you. Vision is how that hardware is packaged, sort of like saying, "I have a Dell computer running on Intel", in this case it is "I have a Dell computer running on AMD Vision hardware." Get it? Before, it was kind of like, AMD has all these parts but to package it together and make it more presentable and palatable to someone whose idea of customization is going to COMPUSA when I was 16 and thinking that I handpicked my computer when I really didn't.
It's hard to make a dent in the mainstream in their industry (AMD has been able to carve out a niche with hardcore gamers and such who spend a considerable amount on hardware to support the lifestyle), but with something like Vision, it's more clear cut in how to attack and capture a new audience. I mean, those Intel commercials, they are pretty compelling (the "rockstar" one is hilarious) and their focus on employee culture is relatable.
The basic Vision level, which has a set of standard features (listening to music, watching movies, surfing the web, operating on Windows 7) and the laptop can go for as low as 500 which is affordable. Then there is Vision Premium and Vision Ultimate, which peaks my interest in that I've never investing in a computer that really was tailored to multimedia editing (I just can't bring myself to invest in a Mac). Tempting for sure.
Anywho, sitting around chit chatting over a whiskey soda and mini cheese toasts, I got to connect with several of the good people that attended and hopefully walked away with a much clearer understanding of what AMD is trying to do this holiday season with Vision. The vibe was very low key, we had some serious gamers in the house trying out a 3 monitor set of first person shooter destruction, and I chatted with Headlight Entertainment, Paint The Town Red, Pocket Lint, Chip Chick, and journos Laurie Heifetz and Andrew Graham.
The cards say "dance to pulse-pounding music"...and who doesn't want to do that? To me, a computer can house so much of what entertains nowadays and I'm smart enough to know my options, I just need them marketed to me without any pretense or clutter as a baseline consumer. Who knows what's in store for AMD in the future as they have been unveiling a lot of new initiatives over the past year, but this is certainly a step to streamline things and provide a simple option for PC purchasing. Check out the peppy background music below:
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