Mobile Pentium II Chips Due in April

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February 23, 1998 (4:45 PM EST)

By Andy Patrizio,

Intel has confirmed that it plans to introduce 233-megahertz and 266-MHz Pentium II chips for laptops in the second quarter, with a 300-MHz processor due by the end of the year.

According to an industry analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity, Intel will release the mobile chips on April 2. The same source said Compaq plans to introduce Armada laptops with the more powerful Pentium IIs, which will sell for between $6,000 and $7,000, the same day.

An Intel spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the April 2 release date, and Compaq declined to comment.

Intel will announce the mobile Pentium IIs separately from its 350-MHz and 400-MHz desktop CPUs, set for an April 15 debut.

Intel's mobile chips are slower than its top of the line 333-MHz Pentium II for desktop PCs, in part to conserve power. The laptop chips will run at 1.8 volts and consume less than 8 watts of power, roughly the same as the Pentium 233-MHz MMX and 266-MHz MMX mobile chips out now.

Nathan Brookwood, principal chip analyst at Dataquest in San Jose, Calif., said although the mobile units are slower than their desktop counterparts, they should still perform well. "How much more power do you need in a laptop?" he asked.

Two weeks after the laptop chip introduction, Intel will put its cards on the table for the desktop market, with the new CPUs and the BX chipset for motherboards. The BX will allow motherboard I/O to run at 100 MHz, compared to the 60 MHz or 66 MHz the motherboards run at now.

Also on April 15, Intel plans to release its 266-MHz Covington chip for the sub-$1,000 PC market. The volume price for Covington will be $155, compared to $375 for the Pentium II 266 MHz for desktops.