Intel to counter rising Crusoe popularity

In a clear move to counter the growing industry interest in the Crusoe

microprocessor from Transmeta, Intel has launched five new low-power Pentium III

and Celeron processors. Three of these run at just one to two watts. Heading the

pack is a 750 MHz P-III chip ($562) that uses less than two watts when running

on battery power, as well as a 600 MHz P-III ($316) that uses less than one

watt. Three new Celeron mobile chips run at speeds between 500 and 650 MHz with

prices ranging between $134 and $181.

Transmeta officials said Intel was trying to confuse consumers with claims of

low power consumption that are only half-true. Intel’s chips run in the 1-2

watt mode only when the computer is "idle". Transmeta processors, on

the other hand consume one watt of power when they are operating at full speed.

The first laptops using Transmeta chips are expected to be showcased next week

at PCExpo in New York.

Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices further lessened the impact of the Intel

announcement by saying that it had started to sell the AMD Duron processor,

designed for computers under $1000. Meanwhile, shares of Intel rose sharply

after the company announced it will invest $2 billion in expanding the

production capabilities of a chip factory in Leixlip near Dublin, Ireland. In

all, some 135,000 square feet of clean room factory space will be added to the

facility.