Intel pushes Mobile Pentium 4 past 3GHz

By Alun Williams

Posted on 12 Jun 2003 at 11:37

Intel has boosted notebook performance with new Mobile Pentium 4 and Celeron processors, and the 3GHz milestone has been passed.

The latest models, however, mark the end of the road for Mobile Intel Pentium 4 and Mobile Intel Celeron processor families. There will be no further speed enhancements.

Two new chipsets have also been announced - the 852PM and 852GME - to work in conjunction with the Mobile Pentium 4 processors. They support 533MHz system buses and up to 2GB of DDR memory. The 852GME chipset also provides graphics capabilities with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 technology.

Details of the new specifications, and pricing, are as follows. The new top of the range Mobile Pentium 4 operates at a frequency of 3.06Ghz, with a bus speed of 533MHz, 512Kb of L2 cache and a voltage of 1.525V. It is priced at $417. The similarly specced 2.8GHz is priced at $278, the 2.66GHz at $218 and the $2.4GHz at $186. A 2.6GHz model with a bus speed of 400MHz, operating at 1.3V, costs $562.

As for the new Celerons, a 2.4GHz Mobile Intel Celeron with 266Kb of L2 cache will cost $149.

To complete the pricing picture, the Intel 852PM and Intel 852GME chipsets are priced at $35 and $45, respectively, based on 1,000 unit orders.

Dell has already announced a machine that will carry the new top of the range mobile Pentium - the Inspiron 5150, which will run on the 3.06GH Mobile Pentium 4.