From tomorrow's NY Times:
March 6, 2000
Compaq Offering a Home
Computer With a Faster Chip
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
he first home computer with a one-gigahertz chip,
which can process data 17 percent faster than the
top consumer chip now on the market, will be offered
for sale on Thursday, the Compaq Computer Corp. said
Sunday night.
The company, based in Houston, said the new system
was being marketed primarily to computer game
players seeking highly detailed, fast-moving graphics.
The systems will be known as the Presario 5900Z
series of desk-top computers.
The gigahertz Athlon chip is made by Advanced Micro
Devices, which also makes what had been the fastest
chip for home computers, the 850 megahertz Athlon.
Last week, Advanced Micro cut prices on its chips for
home computers by as much as 29 percent, but not the
850 Athlon, which continues to carry a list price of
$849, according to Merrill Lynch's weekly report on
chip prices.
The price cuts generally matched those made earlier in
the week by the Intel Corp., the industry leader. Intel's
fastest chip for PC's has a speed of 800 MHz.
Many existing desktop computers have chips that
operate at faster speeds than the rest of the computer
can fully utilize. Compaq said it had designed the
Presario 5900Z line to maximize the benefits of the
faster chip.
Compaq said a system with 128 megabytes of random
access memory, a 30-gigabyte hard drive and a 17-inch
color monitor, but not a printer, would sell for $2,499. |
