Intel chips in to Centrino with 30 per cent price cuts

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 3 Jun 2003 at 15:33

Intel has introduced three new processors to its Centrino range and trimmed the prices of existing products by as much as one third.

The new chips come in the form of a Pentium-M at 1.7Ghz, a low voltage version at 1.2Ghz and an ultra low voltage version at 1Ghz.

All are built to the .13micron process with 1MB of cache and are available as standalone chips or as part of the Centrino trinity that also includes the 855 GM or PM chipset and 802.11b wireless capabilities.

In the wake of the new introductions come sweeping price cuts across existing product offerings, including 30 per cent off the 1.6Ghz Centrino products, taking them to $511 or $506 (depending on whether graphics support is integrated with the chipset or not), while the new 1.7Ghz Centrino steps into their shoes at $725 or $720.

Centrino packages at 1.5Ghz and 1.4Ghz are down 25 per cent and 14 per cent to $382/$377 and $329/$324 respectively.

The Pentium-Ms alone are down 34 per cent for the 1.6Ghz chip to $423, 31 per cent for the 1.5Ghz chip to $294 and 18 per cent for the 1.4Ghz chip to $241 respectively.