Vendors rush to push out 1Ghz laptops

New Intel chip stimulates notebook market

Intel's latest mobile processor, a 1Ghz Pentium III, has won immediate support from major vendors such as Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard (HP) and IBM, which are set to roll out notebooks running on the new chip.

The processor was unveiled two weeks ago and manufactured using the 0.18-micron process. Intel will target full-sized and thin-and-light notebooks, and said that more than 20 different laptops using the 1Ghz chip will be rolled out by PC makers.

Compaq will release the Armada E500, which features a 15in display, 128Mb of Ram, a 30Gb hard drive, a CD-RW drive and a network card, and the Armada M700 which has a 14in display, 128Mb of Ram and a 20Gb hard drive. It will also offer a series of high-end 1Ghz Presario notebooks built to customer specifications.

Dell will base both its Latitude C800 corporate PC and the Inspiron C800 for the consumer market on the chip. The C800 offers 128Mb of SDRam, a 15in display, a 10Gb hard disk drive and Windows 2000.

Gateway said it has integrated the Intel processor into its new Solo 9500. The notebook includes a 15in display and an optional DVD/CD-RW drive.

HP will use the chip in its newest consumer model, the Pavilion N6395. The notebook, which weighs 5.8lb, will have a 15in display, 256Mb of Ram and a 30Gb hard drive. HP has also announced that it will introduce integrated wireless local area network technology in its HP Omnibook 5000 and 6000 notebook PC lines.

IBM is introducing the Thinkpad T22 and A22, which are available on 28 March and 13 April respectively, and Toshiba has announced the launch of the 1Ghz Tecra 8200 notebook and Satellite Pro 4600.

New computers are also expected from Intel original equipment manufacturers Acer, Fujitsu Siemens, Micron Electronics and NEC.

Separately, Intel rival AMD, which hopes to release a 1Ghz mobile Athlon chip, said it expects notebooks based around the processor to be available from mid-summer.