Intel Releases Mobile Pentium 4s

NEW YORK -- With an emphasis on the freedom of wireless technology, Intel here on Tuesday kicked off a campaign to push a new, faster set of Pentium 4 Processor-M (mobile) chips to the mobile computing market.

At a launch event inside New York's Grand Central Terminal, Intel introduced three new Processor-M chips running at speeds of 1.4 GHz, 1.5 GHz, and 1.8 GHz. All are based on Intel's NetBurst chip architecture, which improves the quality of graphics-rich applications and Internet-related computing, according to Intel.

Representatives were flanked by a number of the company's mobile computer partners, including Dell, IBM, Compaq, and WinBook. Intel's message was that consumers are demanding untethered, high-performance mobile computing in their daily lives, and that such technology exists today.

Overseeing Intel's New York launch was Don MacDonald, the director of marketing for Intel's mobile processor division. He said that advances in wireless technology, chip performance, and battery conservation will soon "beg the question of 'How did I survive with a wired, static computing environment?'"

The new Processor-M chips deliver added horsepower to more effectively drive wireless accessories on laptops, such as Bluetooth for wireless PANs (personal area networks) and 802.11 for wireless LANs (local area networks), MacDonald said. The increased clock speeds of the new Processor-M chips also improve the performance of popular applications such as digital music, photography, and gaming, he said.

Notebooks Ready

All of the laptop systems that were on display at the launch running the new Pentium 4 Processor-M chips were suited with either Bluetooth, 802.11, or a combination of both wireless technologies.

The Pentium III Processor-M comes with a 133-MHz or 100-MHz system bus and uses Intel's P6 micro-architecture. The Pentium 4 Processor-M comes with a 400-MHz system bus and uses Intel's newer NetBurst micro-architecture.

The first mobile Pentium 4 processors were launched in March.

Pricing for the newly announced Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M chips starts at $637 for a 1.8-GHz chip, $268 for a 1.5-GHz chip, and $198 for a 1.4-GHz chip, when purchased in lots of 1000 chips, according to Intel.

Earlier this week Intel cut prices by as much as 27 percent on some existing mobile chips, apparently in preparation for the launch.

On Sunday, Intel cut prices of its Mobile Pentium III-M Processor family, which is based on a chip architecture older than the Mobile Pentium 4 Processor-M. The price of the 1.2-GHz version fell 21 percent to $401, whereas the price of the 1.13-GHz version was cut by 27 percent, to $294. The 1.06-GHz and 1.0-GHz versions each fell 18 percent in price, to $241 and $198, respectively, Intel said. Prices are for chips bought in 1000-unit quantities.