Intel Corp started selling smaller versions of its laptop-computer chips that run more than 20 percent faster and use 40 percent less power, as the biggest chipmaker revs up a new manufacturing technique.
The five new Pentium III processors run as fast as 1.13GHz and will be used in systems from manufacturers including Compaq Computer Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Intel has been working up a new manufacturing method that builds tinier, 0.13 micron circuits and uses copper wires instead of aluminum.
Those changes help make chips that are smaller and faster, an important step for laptops as consumers press for sleek models with longer battery life.
"This will be the workhorse of Intel's mobile offering for the next 18 months," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with market researcher Insight 64. "It's a very attractive product."
The chips also have twice as much memory built in as previous Intel laptop chips, bolstering performance. Brookwood expects Intel to begin selling a 1.2GHz mobile Pentium III soon.
The fastest previous model was about 20 percent larger than the new chips and ran at 1GHz, Intel said.
The 1.13GHz models cost US$625 each in volume shipments, with a 1.06GHz version at US$499, 1GHz at US$394, 933 megahertz at US$278 and 866MHz at US$247.
The company last year added a power-saving feature that drops the top performance of the chip when a machine is running on battery power.
The new Pentium IIIs expand on that, lowering the speed whenever it's not needed for hefty tasks. A chip that hits 1.13GHz falls to 733MHz.
Intel also unveiled a new chipset, dubbed 830MP, that surrounds the processor and helps it communicate with the rest of the computer. Other 830-series chipsets coming later will have integrated graphics functions.
The chipmaker needs the extra edge now as competition intensifies, Brookwood said. Advanced Micro Devices Inc in May started selling a new line of laptop chips that run faster and consume less power than previous ones. Its top mobile processors hit 1GHz.
Transmeta Corp, a start-up that's become popular with Japanese notebook makers, has said it will sell a chip based on 0.13 micron manufacturing during the third quarter that will run as fast as 1GHz. A 0.13 micron wire is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Intel will gradually roll out the new manufacturing method in six factories and into its line of chips for servers and desktop computers.
"In the not-so-distant future, you'll see us take this technology and drive it through all our brands," Intel executive vice president Paul Otellini said at an event in San Francisco highlighting the chips.
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