AMD introduces apu with Zen 2 cores and RDNA 2 GPU for budget laptops

AMD introduces a 6nm APU with Zen 2 cores and an RDNA 2 GPU for budget laptops. This Mendocino apu is coming to Windows laptops and Chromebooks by the end of this year. The chip will have a maximum of four CPU cores. Details about the GPU are not yet known.

AMD Mendocino apu

It is not yet known which variants of the Mendocino apu will appear and what exactly they will be called. AMD reports that the chips have up to four Zen 2 cores. This indicates that there are also variants with fewer cores. It is not clear how many cores the RDNA 2 GPU will receive. AMD does indicate that laptops with the APU will be equipped with Lpddr5 memory.

The Mendocino apu is a cheaper alternative to the Ryzen 6000U processors that AMD released earlier this year. They are equipped with the latest Zen 3+ cores. According to AMD, the Mendocino apu is coming to laptops priced between $399 and $699. As an example, the company shows a Lenovo IdeaPad 1. Such laptops would have a battery life of at least ten hours with ‘mixed use’.

The Valve Steam Deck also has an apu with Zen 2 cores and an RDNA 2 gpu. However, it is made at 7nm, so it is not about the exact same chips. If the Mendocino apu gets as many gpu cores as the soc in the Steam Deck, the laptops could also be interesting for budget gaming. AMD does not talk about that, however, so it could be a chip with a smaller GPU.