UPDATE: Certain incorrect claims removed from the story.

ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, has demonstrated working samples of its ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000-series graphics processors at Ceatec trade-show in Japan. What is, perhaps, even more interesting, is that ATI preps dual-chip graphics adapters for mobile computers as well.

There is no secret that the new breed of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for mobile has been in development for some time now. In fact, code-named ATI M98-L and ATI M96 passed PCI Express compatibility validation at PCI-SIG sometime in June.

AMD has not released any information regarding model numbers or performance of its new ATI Mobility Radeon HD graphics processors. Given that code-named ATI Mx8 (where x stands for generation – 9^th, in case of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000) graphics processing units were traditionally aimed at high-end, whereas the Mx6 were intended for performance mainstream market (while the Mx4 and Mx2 were for mainstream and low-end laptops), it is highly likely that at Ceatec either the Mobility Radeon HD 4800-series or Mobility Radeon HD 4600-series processor was demonstrated.

According to the list of products that are supported by ATI Catalyst drivers and that can potentially be shipped, ATI also has Mobility Radeon HD 4850 X2 featuring two graphics processing units, at least in plans. Currently the company preps a variety of new Mobility Radeon HD models, including 4650, 4670, 4850 and 4870, apart from the dual-GPU solution.

Image by PC Watch web-site

At Ceatec ATI demonstrated an MXM module featuring ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000-series processor inserted into a development board, which means that while the card itself is ready, there are no final notebooks to utilize the novelty just yet. It remains to be seen whether graphics product group of AMD will be able to roll-out the new Mobility Radeon HD 4000 family this year.

It is important for ATI to return to the market of high-performance notebook graphics as while the market is relatively small, it is very lucrative and relatively stable. Currently AMD only has design wins with its mainstream Mobility Radeon HD 3600-/3400-series GPUs.

Officials for AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: ATI, AMD, M96, M98, Mobility Radeon