The graphics business unit of Advanced Micro Devices will refresh the lineup of its Mobility Radeon HD graphics processing units for notebooks in the first half of 2011, the company revealed on Tuesday.

The Vancouver family of mobile graphics processing units (GPUs) will consist of two sub-families, based on a slide from AMD discrete mobile graphics chips roadmap. One sub-family "red" will consist of Blackcomb, Whistler and Seymour chips, whereas another sub-family "yellow" will include Granville, Capilano and Robson graphics processors.

The difference between the "red" and "yellow" sub-families is not officially declared, but given positioning of the "yellow" family, it may offer lower performance, lack certain capabilities and be a little more affordable. The "red" family, based on the slide that AMD published, will support the company's second-generation DirectX 11 graphics engine as well as UVD 3.0 with Blu-ray 3D and stereo-3D output support. It is also possible that Vancouver Red and Vancouver Yellow GPUs are made using different process technologies.

AMD does not release any particular launch dates for the new family of graphics processors for laptops. In order to win notebook designs, it should reveal its new Mobility Radeon lineup at the consumer electronics show, where manufacturers of various devices show off their latest products, including notebooks with the most advanced GPUs inside.

The chip designer did not reveal any specifications or performance details about the next-generation ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6000-series graphics processors. Given the fact that the company needs to add performance across the board, it should be expected that the highest-end mobility part will feature Barts-like configuration with 960 or 1120 stream processors.

Tags: ATI, AMD, Radeon, Mobility Radeon, Vancouver, 40nm, Blackcomb, Whistler, Seymour, Granville, Capilano, Robson, Northern Islands