Elmer and Intel Investors - Yep - Intel will be shipping 300 MHz Mobile Pentium II's for notebooks.
This "well kept secret" seems top be completely out of the bag - September 9 will be the introduction date.
Paul
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news.com
300-MHz Pentium II notebooks on tap
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
August 4, 1998, 5:20 p.m. PT
A flotilla of new notebooks will set sail on
September 9 when Intel releases a 300-MHz
Pentium II for portable PCs and cuts prices
on the rest of its mobile chip line.
What's more, the September price cuts will
be closely followed by another round of price
drops that will lower the 300-MHz chip from
its introductory price of $637 to around $371,
according to sources. Together, the new chip
and two pricing actions could mark another
stage in the notebook world's developing
low-cost market.
The timing and exact
extent of these price
cuts remain in flux,
according to sources.
Another caveat: The
prices apply to
volume purchases.
But overall it looks
like more good news for consumers.
One reason for falling costs seems to be the
disparity between desktop and notebook
pricing. Comparative pressures are already
prompting notebook vendors to bring
233-MHz Pentium II notebooks to market for
around $2,000.
"The pricing pressures that were going on in
the desktop arena are being paralleled in the
notebook space. Manufacturers are now
starting to put pressure on each other," said
David Thor, director of research with
Sherwood Research, a consulting firm
covering mobile PC technologies.
Additionally, notebook sales have slowed.
Growth in desktops outpaced notebooks in
the second quarter, according to Scott Miller
of Dataquest, a historical anomaly.
Leading vendors Toshiba, IBM,
Hewlett-Packard and NEC, among others,
will release (or at least announce) new
notebooks commensurate with the 300-MHz
chip's debut.
Toshiba has said that it will use the chip in its
ultraportable Portege 7000CT and in its
standard-sized Tecra 8000 business
notebooks. IBM will support the new chip
across all of its ThinkPad computers, said
sources close to the company. The line
includes the full-featured 770, the slimline
600 and 560 models, and the lumpy, yet
reliable, 380.
HP and NEC are expected to feature the
chip in the high-end notebooks across their
various product lines.
Broad adoption across form factors is
possible because of the chip's packaging.
Starting with the "Tillamook" Pentium MMX
notebook chips, Intel began to case its chips
in a module that can accommodate at least
two generations of chips at different speed
grade. As a result, little engineering is
needed to pick up new chips.
"Mostly it's thermal and regulatory testing,"
said one source.
Major manufacturers will likely use this
September release to phase out the older
Pentium MMX notebook lines. Pentium MMX
machines will still be sold, but few if any new
models will use the chip. Nearly every new
Intel-based notebook going forward will
contain a Pentium II processor.
Meanwhile, the 266-MHz Pentium II chip for
mobile PCs will drop from a current price of
$444 to $371 next month, and to $209 after
the fall cut. The 233-MHz Pentium II, which
now sells for $262, will drop to $209 in
September.
Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer
Network.
Related news stories
Pentium II portables below $2,000 August 4, 1998
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