AMD says it has started shipping dual-core Athlon Neo CPUs for thin and light lappies, and that the new CPU will hit the market soon.

The "new" K8-based processor runs at 1.6GHz, and it will be used in AMD's upcoming Congo platform. Unlike Yukon, Congo will offer a more advanced chipset with Radeon 3200 integrated graphics. Yukon used 690-era Radeon 1200 graphics.

AMD claims that when it comes to integrated graphics, it beats Intel hands down. Neo CPUs also offer a fair bit of muscle, and can match some Intel CULV parts, and they're significantly faster than Atoms. However, Intel's counterparts are manufactured in 45nm, while Athlons are still stuck at 65nm and offer inferior performance-per-watt, although they are slightly cheaper.

Unfortunately, HP is the only vendor to embrace Yukon thus far, and a new versin of its DV2 laptop with a dual-core CPU will appear within days. AMD claims we'll see more models from other vendors in September, a full six months after HP's original DV2 was announced.

Thin and light notebooks are the new black, and if AMD offers Congo at competitive prices, it could grab a slice of the market, as Intel's dual-core CULV CPUs are rather expensive, and coupled with inferior graphics.