What is an APU

Check out this video which gives a visual representation of the APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) design model.



AMD officially introduced its Zacate and Ontario Accelerated Processing Units, saying notebooks and netbooks based on them are "now available." AMD says it expects PC vendors including Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba to "announce plans to deliver AMD Fusion APU- based systems at very compelling value and mainstream price points." Even tablets based on the new silicon are on the way, although those aren't due out until later this quarter.

Zacate and Ontario combine AMD's brand-new Bobcat microarchitecture, DirectX 11-class integrated graphics, and the new UVD3 video decoding block in a single piece of silicon manufactured using TSMC's 40-nm fab process. Both Zacate and Ontario are available in dual- and single-core flavors, with the former having an 18W thermal envelope and the latter fitting into a 9W TDP. Benchmarks showed that the quickest, dual-core Zacate model can keep up with Intel's entry-level CULV processors and deliver far better graphics performance.