Intel to unveil five mobile processors
cbs.marketwatch.com
By Janet Haney, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:39 PM ET Jun 16, 2000 NewsWatch
Latest headlines
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (CBS.MW) - Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, plans to unveil five new mobile processors Monday, a step ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices in the race to develop low-power computer chips.
Intel (INTC: news, msgs) said the new speedy processors will be used in mobile PCs - notebooks, thin, light and ultra-portable systems - and some are expected to use less power than other chips.
"This is not a paper announcement," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64, a market research and consultancy firm. "These processors are going to be available in products you'll see in the next 60 days."
Brookwood said the new processors fall into three Intel categories: the high-end line, or Pentium III; the value-line, or mobile Celeron; and the low-power line, or PIII with SpeedStep technology. A PIII processor with SpeedStep technology easily switches clock frequency and voltage, depending on whether the system is powered by batteries or plugged into AC power. Brookwood believes all the new processors will receive a "speed bump" from their current levels, with the PIII with SpeedStep increasing to 750 megahertz.
Frank Spindler, Intel's vice president and general manager of the Mobile Platforms Group, will present the new processors during an event to be held in San Francisco Monday.
Competition?
"The key thing there is that by using some pretty exotic process technology they are able to run that chip at a very low voltage compared to the desktop or earlier mobile products," Brookwood pointed out, referring to Intel's low-power PIII with SpeedStep processor push. "Consequently that has dramatic power savings and gets the chip down into the under 1 watt average power consumption." Brookwood did say that it's difficult to determine what the battery life will translate to.
New kid on the chip block, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Transmeta, also has its sights set on the low-power mobile device market and already has tapped such heavy-hitters as Gateway and America Online as customers, both of which have stakes in the chipmaker. Transmeta touts its Crusoe chips as offering longer battery lives while using less power.
"It's a little bit hard right now to make an apples to apples comparison to whether Intel's really going to be able to match Transmeta or not," offered Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at the The Linley Group, referring to the wattage of some Intel and Transmeta processors, as well as the battery life of devices using the chips. He pointed out that without knowing what the consumer is using their system for and to what intensity, a comparison is difficult.
Gwennap, however, added that after talking with some original equipment manufacturers, he believes the industry will see some new low-power notebook announcements using Transmeta chips possibly at this month's PC Expo.
"The OEMs have the chips, they're doing the tests themselves, they know what's going on," he said. "What I hear is that at least some of them are going with Transmeta."
Brookwood said, though, that ". . . there's nobody else that's shipping mobile products that Intel can take share from."
He thinks that such tech heavyweights as IBM (IBM: news, msgs), Compaq Computer (CPQ: news, msgs) and Dell (DELL: news, msgs) will be making announcements Monday that will revolve around new high-end mobile units using Intel?s new processors.
AMD
With Intel's announcement, the chipmaker adds even more fuel to the undying flame in its battle with rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: news, msgs). Brookwood said AMD is also expected to introduce new mobile processors in its K6-2+ line with its power-saving technology called PowerNow, and anticipates the announcement to also come during the PC Expo this month.
"Certainly, Intel's classic pattern is to keep ratcheting up the clock speeds, 50MHz here, 50MHz there and put the pressure on AMD," Gwennap said. "On the mobile side, there's still a little bit of a gap there so Intel's looking for a opportunity to deliver parts that AMD's not delivering and get some value to their customers that way."
"AMD's been doing very well, particularly in the [mobile] market that caters to small business and students and people who buy from retail," Brookwood countered.
Products
Brookwood said the PIII processor with SpeedStep technology is targeted at ultra-light notebook computers, such as Sony?s (SNE: news, msgs) VAIO 505 SuperSlim systems and other products in the 3 to 5 lbs. range. Meanwhile, the mobile PIII line is aimed at "road warriors" or commercial-grade equipment and the mobile Celeron goes into units that appeal to small businesses or students, he added.
Shares of Intel closed down 2 3/16 to 126 1/16 Friday, while AMD rose 1/8 to 83. |
