Digital Home Thoughts: AMD To Launch Dual-Core Neo CPU in 2009

"AMD showed off a new platform at CES called Yukon that featured a new single-core Athlon Neo processor. The HP machine featuring the platform was very thin (think MacBook Air) and looked fantastic. HP is set to begin shipping the notebook in 2009. EWeek reports that AMD will also be fielding a dual-core version of its Neo processor that will be part of the Congo platform. Congo and the dual-core Neo are reportedly set to launch later in 2009. Congo will be a platform for new types of ultraportable laptops. AMD was very clear in meetings at CES that the Neo was not for the netbook market."

I haven't had a chance to benchmark the Neo CPU, but coming in at 15 watts, it's a power-hungry beast compared to the Intel Atom chip (which sips a dainty 2.4 watts under load) - yet even though it runs at the same 1.6 Ghz as the current Atom, it's said to offer more performance. The biggest difference between the Neo CPU and the Intel Atom is that the Neo CPU is paired with a nice ATI graphics solution on the HP dv2, whereas all Intel Atom-based systems I've seen are paired with the entirely useless Intel graphics solution. I like seeing Intel having competition, so I wish AMD well with this line of CPUs.