Intel unveils 3-series chipsets

BANGALORE, INDIA: Intel Corporation has unveiled the new Intel 3 Series chipset family along with other technology plans surrounding the company’s popular Core 2 Duo and Quad processors at the Computex computer trade show in Taiwan today.

Intel vice president Sean Maloney, who launched the new offerings, said the chipsets are designed to be used with the company's upcoming Intel 45 nanometer (nm) Penryn family processors expected later this year. Over 100 motherboard designs are underway and Maloney expects the new chipset family to be the fastest growing in Intel's history.

"There is a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation for our forthcoming 45nm Hi-K processors based on the Intel Core microarchitecture," Maloney said.

Maloney also said that Intel and Asustek are working together to offer a family of education focused, low-cost mobile PCs, with one model below $200. Asustek's mobile PCs will play a key role in Intel's World Ahead program.

Maloney also disclosed plans for an Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor product to be released in the third quarter of this year.

The plan follows the company's Extreme Edition brand introduced for desktop PCs in 2003 and extends it to laptops, which continues to be the fastest-growing computing market segment. The upcoming chip is targeted to be the company's highest-performing mobile dual-core processor that still includes energy-saving power features for notebook-friendly designs.