Intel, AMD Launch New Chips

Chip rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices unveiled new sets of processors Tuesday, with Intel launching a new lineup of mobile processors and AMD taking the wraps off four 64-bit chips for desktops.

Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., said it was shipping new Mobile Pentium 4 processors for desktop replacement notebooks, as well as a new, lower-cost mobile Celeron M processor.

The Mobile Pentium 4 processors, based on Intel's Prescott processor, range in clock speed from 2.8GHz to 3.2GHz and include Hyper-Threading technology and a 1-Mbyte Level 2 cache. The new mobile Celeron M processor has a clock speed of 1.5GHz and 512 Kbytes of Level 2 cache. It also runs at a lower core voltage than other Celerons, which Intel said will reduce power consumption and heat.

Pricing on the new Intel chips ranges from $134 in 1,000-unit quantities for the Celeron M to $294 in 1,000-unit quantities for the 3.2GHz version of the Mobile Pentium 4.

Meanwhile, at the Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan, AMD unveiled four Athlon 64 processors for desktops: the Athlon 64 3800 , 3700++and 3500 . It also introduced the Athlon 64 FX-53 chip, which AMD said it's targeting at the gaming space.Among branded vendors, Hewlett-Packard was the single high-profile name that AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif., pointed to as a broad adopter of the Athlon 64 processors, with HP executives saying their company plans to use the Athlon 64 FX-53 in its upcoming Compaq X Gaming PC, due out next month.

Pricing ranges from $500 in 1,000-unit quantities for the Athlon 64 3500 to $799 in 1,000-unit quantities for the Athlon 64 FX-53.