Well, it is a pleasure to share my first blog post with you on the occasion of AMD leading the graphics industry transition to 40nm graphics processors. I lead the AMD Graphics Products Group, which means I’m responsible for the worldwide management of AMD discrete graphics products, including the ATI Radeon™ family of graphics processors for the notebook, desktop, workstation, multimedia and game console markets.

The popularity of notebooks is no secret – it’s well documented that notebooks have surpassed desktops in worldwide sales. The reason for this is clear: people demand portability and wireless technology. Without a doubt, the fact that notebooks are now capable of doing so much more in smaller and sleeker packages have consumers really excited to take their computing experience on the road. The soon-to-arrive HP Pavilion dv2 featuring the low-power AMD platform for ultrathin notebooks is a great example of this – consumers will have access to a stylish, powerful yet affordable mobile computing experience. Mobile computing no longer must be achieved by making compromises. Just last week I read a great story from Jarred Walton of Anandtech discussing how far notebook LCDs have progressed. As a “graphics guy” who focuses on visual computing, hearing that Dell managed to create a notebook LCD that surpasses what many of the best desktop LCDs achieve is nothing short of incredible.

My team here at AMD also plays a huge role in pushing the visual experience on notebooks to new levels. Today we announced a milestone by launching the world’s first 40nm graphics processors, the ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4860 and ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4830. This is the fifth consecutive time that AMD is first to launch graphics processors based on a new process node, but the first time we’ve chosen to make such a debut in the mobile market. (Not to worry desktop fans: 40nm desktop parts are coming soon.) Shrinking these chips smaller and smaller means that OEM partners are able to pack more graphics horsepower into smaller notebooks, so that consumers can enjoy all the goodness of DirectX® 10.1 games, home theater-quality HD multimedia on HD displays and energy-efficient features for long battery life on a wide range of notebook form factors.

It’s not just 40nm process technology that makes these chips so potent, they are based on the same award-winning TeraScale engine of our ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 desktop series. Combining this gaming power with our ATI Avivo™ HD technology and Unified Video Decoder will keep all your HD content humming along at full 1080p resolution with bright colors and seamless playback on your HD display. We’ve also packed in our power-saving technologies like ATI PowerPlayTM, ATI PowerXpressTM, and ATI Switchable Graphics™ technologies so that you can keep gaming, watching and surfing a little longer.

You won’t have to wait too long to experience this mobile goodness – laptops featuring these new processors are scheduled for the second quarter of 2009.

We really are entering into an era of compromise-free mobile computing.

Rick Bergman is Senior VP & General Manager of AMD’s Graphics Products Group. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.