Intel slashes Pentium 4, Celeron prices

SAN FRANCISCO: Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of semiconductors, has cut the prices of its Pentium 4 and lower-cost Celeron processors for both PCs and laptops.

The price of the fastest Pentium 4 PC chip, at 3.2 gigahertz, is now $417, down 35 percent from $637. The price of the 2.4 gigahertz Celeron for PCs is now $69, down 13 percent from $79.

The price of the fastest mobile version of the Pentium 4 was cut by 34 percent to $433 from $653, while the fastest Celeron for notebooks is now $134, down 10 percent from $149.

Intel regularly lowers the prices of chips to sell off inventory and make way for newer products. The cuts, announced on Sunday, generally translate into price reductions of PCs because microprocessors represent a significant percentage of the cost of new computers.

© Reuters