AMD plans to release its dual-core version of the low-power Athlon Neo in the second half of this year.

As we wrote late last month, the dual-core chip - code-named Conesus - will be aimed at what AMD senior vice president Randy Allen identified as customers who don't want a "compromised PC experience."

In other words, the dual-core Neo is not aimed at buyers who are gravitating towards the fastest-growing segment of the latop market: those low-power, browser-bearers known as netbooks, whose processors are currently dominated by Intel's Atom line.

According an eWEEK report today, the dual-core Neo will occupy the Congo variant of AMD's "ultraportable, affordable" Yukon/Congo laptop-platform pair announced last November, with the single-core Neo living in the Yukon.

AMD appears to be betting that there will be a critical mass of customers in the niche between those who need a full-power desktop-replacement laptop and those who are satisfied with a netbook.

In light of the company's recent job cuts, we can only hope - for the sake of AMD's remaining employees - that they're right.

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