Intel to add to its mobile convoy
By John G. Spooner
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 28, 2003, 6:24 AM PT
Intel plans to release faster and cheaper notebook-oriented Pentium 4 chips this year, even as manufacturers continue using less-expensive desktop Pentiums in notebooks to cut costs and attract buyers in the cutthroat consumer market.
Sources indicate that the new mobile Pentium 4 processors will run at speeds of up to 3.06GHz, coming closer than previous notebook offerings to matching the speed of desktop Pentium 4 chips.
At the same time, they'll cost far less than current notebook chips--including the existing Pentium 4-M mobile chip, which costs more than similar chips in the desktop line. Intel's top-of-the-line 2.4GHz Pentium 4-M sells for $562, much higher than the desktop Pentium 4 price of $193.
But the new mobile Pentium 4 chips are expected to sell for only a slight premium, as little as $15 more than the price of a corresponding desktop chip, according to sources.
The development should please major PC makers such as Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard, which began offering hybrid "desknote" Pentium 4 notebooks about a year ago. Although the machines are heavier and more power-hungry than standard laptops, the desknotes' lower prices and near-desktop performance have won over slew of buyers looking to replace their PCs with portable machines they could easily stow away.
Caught somewhat flat-footed by the popularity of Pentium 4 desknotes, Intel executives initially believed the trend would quickly pass. But the Pentium 4 desknote persisted throughout 2002 as more manufacturers launched new models in the category. HP, for one, has said it intends to carry on its desknote lines as long as it can continue to fit desktop chips into a reasonably sized machine.
The upcoming line of hybrid Pentium 4s will kill two birds with one stone. Because it's expected at speeds of up to 3.06GHz initially but with a lower price than an existing mobile Pentium 4-M, the new chip line will allow Intel to address the desknote market, but it won't put price pressure on the company's flagship processor line.
That's because the chipmaker will debut a new mobile processor, the Pentium-M, under the Centrino brand in March. Pentium-M will give Intel the room it needs to realign the mobile Pentium 4 line.
"Part of this is Intel coming to grips and recognizing that this phenomenon isn't going away," said Dean McCarron, an analyst with Mercury Research. "And, as the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Chip after chip
Don MacDonald, director of mobile platforms at Intel, acknowledged that Intel will change its mobile Pentium 4 lineup, but wouldn't go into details about pricing or clock speeds for the new chips
Meanwhile, MacDonald said, Intel's Centrino family--which includes a forthcoming Pentium-M chip (formerly known Banias) along with a new chipset and a wireless radio module for 802.11b--will become the company's new flagship mobile-processor line for tackling the higher end of the market made hot by the growth of wireless.
Intel will also continue selling the current version of its Pentium 4-M chip, and will quite likely add new speed grades, but its focus will be on delivering the faster chips, as an extension of the current mobile Pentium 4 line, MacDonald said.
MacDonald indicated that although the new mobile Pentium 4 chips will offer desktoplike speeds, they won't offer the same features as their desktop counterparts.
Much like Intel's Pentium 4C--a short-lived, special-order processor used by HP--the new mobile Pentium 4 chips are expected to essentially offer a desktop processor in a mobile package. As a result, the chips are not expected to offer hyperthreading or Intel's faster 800MHz bus, used by the desktop chips.
The new mobile Pentium 4 chips will likely lack some of the power management features of Intel's more standard notebook chips as well. They're not likely to offer Intel's SpeedStep, for instance, which lowers a notebook chip's clock speed to extend the amount of time the machine can run on battery power.
But the new chips, expected midyear, will run at a much higher range of clock speeds--between 2.4GHz and 3.06GHz--and include a 533MHz bus, sources familiar with Intel's plans indicated. The speeds will put the chips only a few clicks behind Intel's desktop Pentium 4, which will be available at 3.2GHz or faster by the time of the new mobile chip's release.
Although Intel's new mobile Pentium 4 may grant consumers only slightly more megahertz, analysts say it could do a lot for manufacturers looking to cut prices and compete in the consumer notebook market.
The wireless factor
Expensive notebooks won't fade away. But the desknote trend could begin to dwindle with the popularity of wireless computing, which requires a notebook with a fairly long battery life, something the desknotes don't have. Some Centrino laptops, meanwhile, will be able to run up to 6 hours on a single charge, according to Intel estimates.
Mercury Research's McCarron said that Intel's combination of a new mobile Pentium 4 and the higher-end Centrino line covers both those bases.
"The advantage to the manufacturer involves a couple of things," McCarron said. "If he already has a Pentium 4-M system, he can take advantage of the cost savings of going to a desktop processor without doing a new motherboard. The reverse is, if he designs a system around the (mobile Pentium 4), he has the option of putting notebook processors in it. The manufacturer has the flexibility of going in the direction the market may dictate...as opposed to being locked in.
"Part of what Centrino is about is pointing out the sexier aspects of mobile computing," said McCarron. "Those aspects--things like hanging out in Starbucks doing 802.11 Web browsing--are not well supported by these desktop processor systems."
Centrino will appear in most Intel-based notebooks built for businesses and in the remainder of notebooks weighing less than about 7 pounds that are aimed at consumers or small businesses. Where consumers trend toward larger, less-expensive machines, businesses continue to buy lighter notebooks and often equip them with wireless.
"For people who have a need for mobility, we've got Centrino mobile technology," said Intel's MacDonald.
Over time, MacDonald said, "what generally happens--and it depends to some extent on your behavior--is that people begin to get untethered to use wireless and take (the notebook) with them. Then the rules change. But we're not trying to ram that down people's throats."
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