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Intel is launching its 2-GHz Mobile Pentium 4-M processor Monday, and major vendors including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Gateway are rolling out 2-GHz notebooks this week, with other vendors following soon.

Intel expects the chip--along with a new 1.9-GHz Mobile P4 and three new mobile Celeron chips at 1.33, 1.4, and 1.5 GHz--to help spur continued growth in the surging notebook market.

However, while the chip represents yet another speed milestone, exclusive PC World tests show notebooks using the CPU offer a relatively small performance boost over existing 1.8-GHz products--while sporting the requisite price premium.

Small Bump

In the first PC Worldbench 4 tests of a 2-GHz notebook, Winbook's N4 notebook with 256MB of main memory scored a 98 on PC WorldBench 4. That's 5 points better, or about 5 percent faster, than the average of three previously tested, comparably configured 1.8-GHz notebooks. A 2-GHz Gateway 600XL with twice the memory of the Winbook--512MB--scored a 100 on the tests. All systems used the Windows XP Pro operating system.

The Winbook N4 includes 256MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a 15.1-inch display, and NVidia GeForce2Go graphics with 16MB of memory. It sells for $2794. The company expects to start shipping the 2-GHz unit in July.

As configured, our Gateway test system sells for $3128 after a $100 rebate. It includes ATI Mobility Radeon graphics with 64MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW combination drive, and a 15.7-inch display and is available now.

Gateway's standard 600XL offers essentially the same configuration but less memory (256MB) and Windows XP Home, and sells for $2799. The same notebook, configured with a 1.8-GHz processor, sells for $2499 after rebate--a notable price difference for a negligible performance boost.

Dell, Toshiba, HP Join

Dell will offer the 2-GHz chip across its product line, using it in its Inspiron 8200, Latitude C840, and Precision M50 mobile workstations. A sample configuration of the consumer-oriented Inspiron 8200 includes 256MB memory, a 40GB hard drive, NVidia GeForce4 440 Go with 64MB memory, a 24X CD-RW/DVD combination drive, and Microsoft's Windows XP Home Edition for $3061.

Toshiba will offer two notebooks with the 2-GHz chip starting on Monday: the Satellite Pro 6100 and the Tecra 9100. A featured configuration of the 6100 includes 512MB of memory, a 60GB hard drive, a 15-inch display, NVidia GeForce4 420 graphics with 32MB of memory, and a DVD/CD-R combination drive for $2699. A sample configuration of the 9100 with the new chip includes 256MB of memory, a 40GB hard drive, a 14.1-inch display, S3 graphics, a DVD/CD-RW combination drive, and Windows XP Pro for $3409.

HP will offer a 2-GHz version of its Compaq Presario 2800 starting Monday. The unit includes 256MB of memory, a 30GB hard drive, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 32MB of memory, and a 14.1-inch display. Pricing was not set as of Friday. The 2800 is just one of a handful of new notebooks the company is launching this week.

Intel: Notebooks Rule

Promoting the 2-GHz launch, members of Intel's mobile group merrily pointed to recent independent research numbers that show even in a weakened economy notebook sales remains strong.

The notebook market will grow 17 percent in 2002 over 2001, says Anand Chandrasekher, Intel vice president and general manger of the mobile platform group, quoting figures from Gartner research. Those numbers line up with Intel's own projections, he says.

In addition to performance that now closely rivals that of desktop PCs, notebooks appeal to businesses and consumers because they lead to better productivity, he says.

According to Intel's own in-house surveys, employees who use notebooks put in three to 12 additional hours of work per week, Chandrasekher says. Another survey from Gartner says employees using notebooks contribute additional productivity of up to $34,000 for their businesses, he says.

Add wireless to the equation, and productivity goes even higher, he says. When notebook users go wireless, their productivity can jump as much as an additional 41 percent, he says.

Nor are notebooks just about work and no play, Chandrasekher adds. Thanks to the improved performance and wireless connectivity, today's notebooks make excellent gaming platforms, he says. "It's not a huge trend, but it's an exciting one," he says.