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To: Scumbria who wrote (75329)	7/3/2001 12:08:34 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Intel Releases Four New Processors By Tom Murphy, Electronic News -- 7/2/01 9:48:00 AM Electronic News “The question is, will anyone be sitting in the wings to buy a new computer and will they be beating doors down to get these latest ones. In my opinion, I don’t think so.” Intel Corp. is expected today to unveil two Pentium 4 processors featuring clock speeds of 1.8Ghz and 1.6GHz. Both are intended to provide customers a wider variety of price and performance points than the current top-of-the-line 1.7GHz P4 chip. In addition to additional processors at the high end, Intel (nasdaq: INTC) will also release two Celeron processors to continue its leading market share in the value PC segment, according to a spokesman at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. The 900MHz version, based on the P-6 architecture, is designed for desktops while the 850MHz version will be released for mobile computers, a spokesman said. The two high-end chips are intended to keep Intel ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) on the performance side of the game and hopefully stimulate renewed vigor in the slumbering PC market, according to analysts. “The real challenge will be for the marketing folks at Intel,” said Nathan Brookwood at Insight64, a market research company in Saratoga, Calif. “It’s kind of like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s sixth wedding. Everyone knows what it is for but it is hard to make it exciting.” An Intel spokesman said the company is positioning the processors toward power consumers that need to run the latest digital video, graphic and Internet applications while providing corporate users with assurances on longevity, integrity, stability and reliability. “These are basically speed bumps which show the constraints of the Pentium 4 architecture on 0.13-micron technology,” said Shane Rau, an analyst for IDC, based in Framingham, Mass. “Intel really wants to move to 0.13-micron technology so it can open up the clock speeds and move into other computing segments.” While the release of Intel’s Northwood processor, a P4-based architecture on 0.13-micron technology, is not expected until 2002, a company spokesman said there is an expected launch of a 2GHz Pentium 4 based on 0.18-micron technology in the third quarter. That still leaves the question of why Intel would put so much effort into the release of the two high-end P4s. “I’ve seen the demonstrations and I think the people at Intel are painfully aware of a lack of killer app,” Rau said. “The average consumer doesn’t do those type of things, and on the corporate side, the applications are even less demanding. It may be interesting with the launch of Windows XP (from Microsoft, scheduled for October), which will demand more horse power. For businesses and consumers, if the consumer feels it is a more stable operating system and that they need more mutlitasking, it may drive need for better processors.” At one time, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD was beating Intel to the punch with higher clock speeds when microprocessors were approaching 1GHz. But now it seems as if Intel has the clear lead in clock speeds and is not about to relinquish it anytime soon, even without the 1.8GHz and 1.6GHz processors. “It will be challenging for these chips because they don’t buy a lot of performance,” Brookwood said. “Intel can overwhelm AMD with a pretty substantial clock frequency advantage, but the Pentium 4s are not as efficient on a clock-for-clock basis as the AMD Athlons are. The difference is to look at bench marks and I bet they will say it continues to be real horse race between the two.” “The question is, will anyone be sitting in the wings to buy a new computer and will they be beating doors down to get these latest ones. In my opinion, I don’t think so.” Intel’s 1.8GHz Pentium 4 chip will be priced at $562 and the 1.6GHz version will be priced at $294.