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Intel Corp. has unveiled new details about its 2006 chip lineup, which includes its first dual-core notebook chips, on its Web site ahead of their official introductions.
The chip maker, in an update of its online price sheet over the past weekend, unveiled new model numbers, speeds and pricing of its Core processor, a chip thats otherwise known as Yonah and that will replace its Pentium M. It did the same with its desktop Pentium D 900, otherwise known by the code name Presler.
The new chips, expected to hit systems this month, are important in that they will become the basis of a large percentage of Intel silicon-based desktops as well as the first dual-core or two-processor-on-chip notebook PCs. They also represent advances for Intel in that they are manufactured using the companys latest 65-nanometer chip manufacturing process.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini is expected to officially unveil the Yonah chip as part of Napa—its next-generation Centrino-brand platform for wireless notebooks—during his keynote at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday. Napa will be built into a broad range of systems designed for businesses and consumers. The chip maker has said that more than 200 designs are in the works, around half of which will come out within about a month of the platforms introduction.
The first new Core, or Yonah, chips will range from the 1.66GHz, single-core T1300 to the 2.16GHz dual-core T2600. Intel is expected to dub the chips either Core Solo or Core Duo to highlight the number of processors they contain.
Intel will also offer dual-core T2300, T2400 and T2500 models, which run at 1.66GHz, 1.83GHz and 2GHz, respectively. The chips, which are expected to be called Core Duos, will range in price from $241 for the T2300 to $637 for the T2600. The single-core T1300 lists for $209, the companys online price sheet shows.
Intel will also offer low-voltage L2300 and L2400 processors. The twin core chips will operate at 1.5GHz and 1.66GHz. The chips will list for $284 and $316, respectively, when sold in 1,000-unit lots, the sheet shows.
The Pentium D family, meanwhile, offers a bump in speed for dual-core desktops.
The Pentium D will be associated with more than one Intel platform. The chip will be used inside Averill, for one. Averill, Intels next business desktop platform, is expected later this year.
Pentium D chips will range in speed from the 2.8GHz Pentium D 920 to the 3.4GHz Pentium D 950. Two more, a Pentium D 930 and a Pentium D 940, will bridge the gap at 3GHz and 3.2GHz. The Pentium D 900 chips will range in price from $241 to $637, Intels price sheet shows, meaning they will cost the same or less than Pentium D 800 chips. Intel often matches prices on old and new chips to encourage adoption of the newer models.
Versus the Pentium D 800 family, the Pentium D 900 gains clock speed as well as extra cache or on-board memory. Pentium D 900 chips have twin 2MB caches versus twin 1MB caches in the 800 series, for example.
Both chips families are also expected to be associated with Viiv, a new brand for multimedia-oriented consumer systems, which Intel is also expected to detail at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.
Intel representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.