In a breakthrough for chipmaker Transmeta, Hewlett Packard (HP) has confirmed that it will use a 1GHz Crusoe chip to power its new tablet PCs.

HP becomes the first US computer maker to choose a Crusoe processor over products from Intel.

Transmeta has had limited success with its low-power chips in Japan where a number of manufacturers have included the products in laptop computers.

Crusoe chips are lighter, smaller, generate less heat and use less battery power than similar ones from Intel and AMD.

HP's Compaq Evo Tablet PCs are based on a Windows XP PC operating system and will be launched later this year. Pricing has yet to be announced.

The devices, which weigh just 3lb, will ship with a keyboard interface but will allow users to write directly onto the screen.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group, said that companies such as HP were unhappy with the rate of change in technology from Intel, leaving the door open for a chip company such as Transmeta to become the standard for this type of mobile device.

Following the merger of HP and Compaq, the company management decided that all business machines will use the Compaq Evo brand.