Doug and Intel Investors - KATMAI Launch slated for March 1, 1999.
It looks like 450 nad 500 MHz Katmai processors will be introduced on March 1 with HP, Compaq, IBM and NEC introducing systems ranging in price from ONLY $1400 (450 MHz) uo to ONLY $2300 (500 MHz).
Intel appears to be pricing these for the MAINSTREAM - both business and home - at these prices.
Note the references to WIndows NT 5.0/2000
It will be interesting to see how NT 5.0/2000 performs on these machines when it (NT 5.0) is released.
Paul
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infoworld.com
Intel ushers in new design
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:10 AM PT, Dec 21, 1998
When Intel announces its next-generation Katmai processor on March 1, system vendors will be ready to ship beefed-up desktop systems based on the chip, hoping corporate buyers will see a need for a 500-MHz desktop PC.
Pricing for the new systems will certainly not be the deciding factor. According to sources, Hewlett-Packard will offer a desktop with a 500-MHz Intel Katmai processor, an 18GB hard drive, and 128MB of RAM, priced at about $2,300.
IT managers who need less powerful configurations will pay about $1,800 for a similarly configured system without a digital video disc or LAN connector and a hard drive of as large as 8GB.
"I can get a $1,200 system now from Compaq or HP, but I'd have to ask if it is the best investment over three years," said Rick Smith, vice president for information systems and technology at House of Blues, in Hollywood, Calif., a global entertainment company.
IBM will unveil two systems based on the chip. The high-end system will include a 500-MHz Katmai processor, 64MB of RAM, a 12.8GB hard drive, a 40X CD-ROM, and Windows NT for $2,000. The low-end system will feature a 450-MHz Katmai and a 4GB hard drive for $1,400, sources said.
Sources said NEC will offer a PowerMate 8100 with either a 450-MHz or 500-MHz Katmai chip, as much as 128MB of RAM, and a 10GB hard drive, with prices starting from $1,899 in a minitower form factor.
Whatever the final shape of the PC, the changes inside will be significant.
Katmai will include additional instructions -- not unlike MMX but far more extensive -- for faster floating-point computations, streaming video, and voice recognition.
"The [Katmai] processor is targeted at business, for use with spreadsheets, graphics, and calculations," said Rob Enderle, a senior analyst at Giga Information Group, in San Jose, Calif.
"Katmai is designed specifically for Windows 2000 and vice versa," Enderle said. "All of the sudden you see a big performance jump. This hits where we live in IT. NT 5.0 was written specifically for this instruction set."
Enderle recommended that IT managers buy low-cost Celeron-based desktops until Katmai is available.
House of Blues' Smith is already feeling a need for faster desktops.
"If you want to just hammer on text, I'm not sure you ever had to go away from an old XT, but if you want real video, audio, and you want a face-to-face conference on your monitor -- rather than voice mail or phone mail -- the box needs this level of performance," Smith said.
However, not everyone agrees.
"The current level of system performance is quite good. The issue is about network response time," said Phil Hester, chief technology officer at IBM's Personal Systems Group, in Austin, Texas. "The network connection and how you are connected, those are the front-burner questions at this point."
Bob Elton, vice president of global bank operations and technology at Chase Manhattan Bank, in New York, would also be reluctant to change strategy in midstream.
"Only if there was a tremendously compelling reason would we look at it," Elton said.
By the end of the year, Intel will augment the Katmai processor with a new chip set that will add even more capabilities to the desktop.
The following features are on the way.
133-MHz front-side system bus.
Accelerated Graphics Port with 4X performance.
Rambus DRAM bus support.
Ultra ATA support for 66Mbps throughput.
Finally, Intel will decrease the die size of the chip, often called a shrink, from 0.25 microns to 0.18 microns, boosting processor performance well above 600 MHz before 2000.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.
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