AMD Launches Fusion APU: DirectX 11 Graphics, Up to 10 Hours of Juice, Budget Prices

Intel isn’t the only company putting the CPU and the GPU on a single chip. AMD today announced its new Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), which combines the two in a low-cost, low-power design.

AMD claims that the Fusion APU will be capable of DirectX 11 graphics, 1080p video, converting standard-def into high-def, 3D gaming, and more. Additionally, AMD expects that Fusion will be able to provide up to 10 hours or more of battery life, as the combined CPU and GPU will save power.

Where Intel is starting from the top down with its “Sandy Bridge” Second-Generation Core Processors (pricey quad-core CPUs come first, than more affordable notebooks with dual-core) AMD’s Fusion APU will initially target mainstream and budget consumers. AMD says that the Fusion APU will be used by Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba.

Notebooks we know that will have the Fusion APU include the HP Pavilion Dm1 (starting at $449), Lenovo IdeaPad S260, and the Lenovo G770, G570, G470, G575, and G475.

More juicy details below.

The first APUs to ship will be the E-series and C-series “Bobcat” processors, and should be available in notebooks relatively soon. The higher-powered “Llano” processor, which will have up to four cores and a DirectX 11-capable discrete-level GPU,  will ship later in the first half of 2011.