0 AMD targets Windows 8 tablet market with its new Z-60 'Hondo' APU

If you thought that AMD was going to let Intel steal the show at the upcoming Windows 8 launch event, you're in for quite a surprise. AMD has announced a Z-60 APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) that's been tailor made for high-end, performance hungry tablets.

The Z-60, formerly code-named Hondo, combines AMD's x86-based processing with the Radeon end of the graphics into a single chip. The Z-60 is packing in a dual-core 1GHz clock speed along with 80 GPU cores for Radeon HD 6250. AMD claims that the new processor is suitable for tablets as thin as 10mm. The new APU will also include AMD's Start Now technology that allows mobile devices to boot up really fast. There is also 1080p content and HDMI support and lastly, DirectX 11 support.

"Tablet users seeking an uncompromised experience for both creating and consuming content on the Microsoft Windows 8 platform now have a performance-driven, affordable option with the AMD Z-60 APU,” Steve Belt, corporate vice president of Ultra-Low Power Products at AMD, said in a statement.

According to Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, the Z-60 chip would snuggly fit between Intel's Atom and Core processors.

So far, the mobile market has been dominated by ARM, but with Windows 8, a new path has been opened up to the two processor manufacturers. While Z-60 is offering a little less battery life and a little more power draw, the upshot here is the high-end graphics performance and the DirectX 11 support.