Jeff & Intel Investors - Intel is Getting Ready For AMD's K6+ 266 MHz Device
Intel appears to be making a pre-emptive strike against AMD - by getting a 266 MHz Pentium MMX (Tillamook, 0.25 micron) ready for notebook PCs - BEFORE AMD can get their shrink K6/0.25 micron product to market.
Once again, AMD will be running into road blocks with their technology road map.
Paul
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infoworld.com
Intel readies yet another Tillamook chip
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:02 AM PT, Oct 27, 1997
Intel plans to announce in January that the mobile Pentium chip in its 0.25-micron version, formerly known
as Tillamook, will see another iteration in a 266-MHz version.
However, industry analysts, IT managers, and notebook makers are questioning the need for another
version of the Pentium chip, especially when the mobile Pentium II, code-named Deschutes, will follow a
few short months later.
"The 266 [MHz Tillamook] would run about 10 percent faster than the 233 [MHz Tillamook]," said Frank
Spindler, marketing director of the mobile handheld products group at Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif.
However, Spindler declined to confirm plans for such a chip.
"The percent of [the 266-MHz chip's] performance increase over a Pentium at 233-MHz is too little to earn
wide appeal to most users," said Gerry Purdy, president at Mobile Insights, in Mountain View, Calif. "IT
managers will probably stay with the 233 MHz, and then leapfrog to Deschutes when it becomes available
later in '98."
System OEMs also were reluctant to endorse Intel's new processor.
"We're looking at it, but no decision has been made yet," said one source within the IBM PC notebook
division, who asked not to be identified.
IT managers appear to be taking a wait-and-see attitude as well.
"Speed on laptops is not as critical as on desktops, especially if it eats into the battery life," said Brian
Jaffe, director of network and client services for Bantam, Doubleday, and Dell, in New York, and a member
of InfoWorld's Corporate Advisory Board.
Meanwhile, three more PC vendors will unveil on Nov. 3 the addition of 233-MHz Tillamook-based
notebooks to their product lines. (See "November is the month for new notebooks.")
Dell Computer will add three new models to its Latitude line, all in a thin-and-wide format, according to one
source. Its notebooks will weigh about 5.5 pounds, have a 13.3-inch screen, and be based on Pentium
200-MHz and 233-MHZ MMX chips.
The models will be 1-inch thinner than the current Xpi models, according to the source, and will have a 20X
CD-ROM drive in a swappable option bay. No ship date was available for the Dell notebooks. A system
with a 233-MHz chip, 32MB of RAM, and a hard disk above 3GB is expected to cost less than $5,000.
NEC Computer Systems will introduce an all-in-one Tillamook-based Versa 2780 notebook with a built-in
20X CD-ROM, floppy drive, a 56KB modem, and a Universal Serial Bus port. A standard model with a
12.1-inch screen, 32MB of RAM, 512KB Level 2 cache, and a 3.2GB hard drive is priced at $3,599,
sources said. Units will start shipping this week.
Also, Digital Equipment will have a Tillamook-based notebook in its HiNote 500 line. The units will have a
13.3-inch screen and will include a CD-ROM drive, said a source familiar with the launch. In addition, the
company will announce price cuts on its older models.
Last week, Hewlett-Packard officials announced 13 percent price cuts across the board on the company's
5700 and 2000 model notebooks.
The OmniBook 2000CS, with a 150-MHz Pentium with MMX, will now be priced at $2,250.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at (408) 765-8080 or intel.com. |
