John and ALL, Article...Intel bolsters processors to get inside notebooks...
December 30, 1997
Computer Reseller News via Individual Inc. : Boston -- In what appears to be a new way of doing business, Intel Corp. next year plans to bolster its processor offerings for emerging notebook form factors in addition to filling out its mainstream mobile chip line.
The processors stand to ensure Intel's presence in all segments of the notebook market.
Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., currently is supporting products in the mini, ultrathin and low-cost notebook platforms. And Intel documents examined by CRN show the company is committed to this strategy at least through the end of 1998.
In the mini-notebook configurations, Intel will roll out a low-powered 166MHz Pentium processor with MMX in January and a 200MHz version by the end of June. Intel already is supporting this form factor with a low-powered 120MHz Pentium with MMX.
Ultrathin notebooks will be supported in the first half of 1998 by a 266MHz Pentium with MMX made by the 0.25-micron process technology and a 233MHz Pentium II. The 233MHz Pentium II will move to the value segment of the market in the second half of the year, with a 266MHz Pentium II taking its place in the high end, according to the documents.
Intel also wants to make sure its processors are in the low-cost notebook market segment, the documents indicate. In the first quarter, Intel expects notebooks selling at $1,500 or less to contain its 150MHz Pentium with MMX with no Level 2 cache as well as an 11.3-inch screen, 1-Gbyte hard drive, Universal Serial Bus (USB) and software MPEG 1.
The notebooks selling at this price point in the second quarter are expected to have a 166MHz Pentium with MMX with no L2 cache, an 11.3-inch or 12.1-inch screen, 1.6-Gbyte hard drive, USB and the software MPEG 1. Notebooks with 200MHz Pentium processors with MMX will drop to this price segment in the third quarter, according to the documents.
Intel executives have acknowledged the 300MHz Pentium II will be the fastest notebook processor in 1998, but declined to comment on pricing or the introduction schedule.
"Anything that will consume a processor, Intel wants to be in the business," said David Mack, president of Technology Business Research Inc., Hampton, N.H. This is a "very fundamental change inside Intel, " he added, to enter any market in which it can make money and to fend off competition from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Cyrix Corp. and Centaur Technology Inc., an Austin, Texas-based chip maker designing a low-powered processor that runs at 225MHz and 240MHz.
A plan to support notebooks priced at $1,500 and under "parallels the $999 price point we place on the desktops," said Josh Council, an analyst with ARS Inc., Irving, Texas. "It's a barrier where you loose some of the performance for a better value. And there are so many people out there looking for a better value.
"I really don't think [Intel] wants AMD or Cyrix [Corp.] to pick up that slack," Council said.
It also is critical that Intel supports ultrathin notebooks, Mack said. " [And] I have no doubt that [the mini-notebook space] is a market [Intel] will put processors in, but will not spend a lot for engineering."
Many vendors "now seem to be moving toward the mini-notebooks," Council said. "With that much of an interest out there, Intel has to be ready to supply those people."
Both the ultrathin and mini-notebooks are expected to be viable form factors in the coming year, industry observers said.
"We're getting much more sales in the ultrathins," said Karl Wilhelm, vice president of SRA Corp., a systems integrator in Fairfax, Va. The company also is seeing a lot of customer interest in mini-notebooks.
Many of the ultrathin models do not have Intel processors in them, Wilhelm said. Instead, he is seeing them feature AMD or Texas Instruments chips.
"That market kind of escaped Intel for a while," he said. "I don't think they realized how many people" would opt for smaller notebooks with less power.
Having Intel inside these notebooks will make sales a lot easier to make, Wilhelm said. "This is a good thing. You eliminate the compatibility problems you run into with [the other chips]."
Software programs that run on desktops with Intel processors may have to be adjusted to run a customer's notebook running another maker's chip, he said. "Now, if it's Intel across the board, generally, all those problems will go away, and customers love that."
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Michael
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