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Meet the next generation of ATI Mobility Radeon graphics

AMD is looking to snag a bigger slice of the mobile graphics pie with a new series of ATI Mobility Radeon chips, called the HD4000 series.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman

It's time for an update to the tiny GPUs that let your laptop watch HD videos and play World of Warcraft. AMD is looking to snag a bigger slice of the mobile graphics pie with a new series of ATI Mobility Radeon chips, called the HD4000 series. They offer Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support and the highest-end versions support GDDR5 memory.

Those break down into four categories, which are (with AMD's description of each):

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4800 Series: For gaming enthusiasts
>Amazing Graphics Horsepower for extreme HD Gamers
>World's most powerful mobile GPU, breaks the TeraFlops barrier
>World's First Mobile GPU supporting GDDR5 memory

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4600 Series: Optimized for high-performance thin systems
>Multimedia Powerhouse delivering intense HD Entertainment
>Redefine HD Gaming for Performance Thin Notebooks
>Phenomenal Performance Per Watt

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 and 4500 Series: HD performance for mainstream systems plus Low-power for thin and light laptops
>Optimal design and power for Ultra-Thin Notebooks
>Spectacular full HD 1080p video and audio support
>Breakthrough Energy Efficiency for Long Battery Life

Here's a handy chart breaking down the details of the different new Mobility Radeon HD chips: