"Only a few weeks into the new year, Ati is surprising the mobile gaming crowd with a "new" DirectX 9 graphics chip, the Mobility Radeon 9700. The MR 9700's main task is to narrow the 3D performance gap between notebooks and desktop computers to a degree that is more than just noticeable. Also, ATI promises that, unlike its predecessor the MR 9600, this chip will be available in notebooks upon launch.
Don't be fooled by the name though. The Mobility Radeon 9700 is not a derivative of the desktop graphics chip Radeon 9700 / R300, although the 97XX name suggests just that. The difference between the two is that the Mobility Radeon follows a four pixel-pipeline design, while the desktop Radeon 9700 employs an eight-pipe design. "
Source :
Tom's Hardware Guide