Intel adds power to notebook chips

TOKYO: Intel Corp, the world's largest chip maker, has unveiled a new mobile processor for notebook personal computers in an effort to accelerate the growing trend of wireless Internet access via laptop PCs.

The Pentium M processors are Intel's first mobile processors built with cutting-edge 90 nanometer manufacturing technology, which helps the new chips perform faster than earlier models while consuming roughly the same amount of power. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

Intel made a big push into portable computing last year with the launch of its Centrino brand, which combines power-efficient processors with wireless communications, capability.

After little more than a year since the launch last March, more than 150 models of notebook PCs are now equipped with Centrino technology globally, Intel said.

"What we have seen over the past year is the establishment of a trend towards wireless computing," Kaz Yoshida, Co-President of Intel KK, told a news conference. Intel KK is the Japanese unit of Intel.

The new processors are available at clock speeds ranging from 1.7 gigahertz to 2.0 gigahertz. The 1.7 GHz Pentium M costs $294 each, the 1.8 GHz processor $423 and the 2.0 GHz $637, all in quantities of 1,000.

Major notebook PC manufacturers including Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, Sony Corp and Toshiba Corp will introduce notebook PCs based on the new Pentium M processors, Intel said.

©Reuters