AMD stresses 'visual' tech in laptop chip rollout

From CNET News.com: Advanced Micro Devices is trying to assert its graphics technology advantage over Intel as part of a rollout of new mobile processors.

The Intel rival on Thursday introduced new processors for the mainstream laptop segment while stressing the visual prowess that its ATI graphics unit offers.

Consumers won't be left in the dark about visual features this time, according to AMD. "When you look at two systems side by side in retail, you really can't tell what kind of visual experience you're getting," Bob Grim, director of client product marketing, said in a phone interview. "You're going to see us take a sharp turn and talk less about component specifications and talk more about the usage that those technologies enable."

The AMD graphics chip-based "Vision" technology complements Microsoft's DirectX, a multimedia programming interface built into Windows 7. As an example, transcoding, in which one video format is converted to another, is done on the graphics processor for faster conversion, AMD said.

On the processor front, new processors announced Thursday as part of AMD's "2009 mainstream notebook" lineup--which range up to 2.6GHz in speed--use a 45-nanometer manufacturing process, matching the mobile chip geometries that Intel has been offering for about a year and a half.

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