Nvidia Corp., a leading supplier of graphics technologies and core-logic sets, announced on Thursday its new GeForce Go 7700 visual processing unit, which is the world’s first graphics chip produced using 80nm process technology, the thinnest fabrication process used for manufacturing of graphics processing units (GPUs).

The GeForce Go 7700 features 12 pixel processors and operates at 450MHz, 128-bit memory controller, up to 512MB of memory at 1000MHz clock-speed. Given that Nvidia’s web-site has one page for the GeForce Go 7600 and Go 7700 models, it is highly likely that there is no difference between the GeForce Go 7600 and GeForce Go 7700 apart from manufacturing process – 80nm for the Go 7700 and 90nm for the Go 7600 – and some performance differences.

According to Nvidia’s web-site, the Go 7700 is faster compared to the Go 7600, but is not as fast as the Go 7600 GT model. There are no approximate thermal design power differences or power consumption differences noted by Nvidia, even though thinner fabrication process usually means a bit lower energy consumption. Additionally, thinner manufacturing processes allow developers to manufacture the chips in a more cost-efficient way, which may benefit end-users in terms of lower pricing.

Given Nvidia Corp. did not release a lot of technical specifications concerning the new GeForce Go 7700 GPUs at the time of formal announcement, still describing the part as “designed to deliver levels of visual performance and quality that both movie fans and gamers can appreciate”, the aforementioned claims regarding the tech specs may contain certain inaccuracies.

Asustek Computer said it would use the GeForce Go 7700 in its forthcoming A8J notebooks. The laptops are based on Intel Core 2 Duo processors, Intel 945 PM chipset, up to 2GB of PC2-5300 (DDR2 667MHz) memory and have 14.1” WXGA+ (1440x900) display with built-in 0.35MP webcam. The mobile computers also feature 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Gigabit Etherner, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, up to 120GB hard disk drive and other hardware. Asus A8J notebooks weight 2.39 kilograms.