Intel Intros Low-Voltage ‘Dothan’ Chips

Intel Corp. has moved its “Dothan” mobile processor into the ultra-low-voltage space, scattering additional price cuts among its mobile microprocessor lineup.

Intel introduced the LV/ULV Intel Centrino 1.40GHz model 738, 1.10GHz model 733, and 1GHz model 723 alongside the platform’s corresponding Pentium M counterparts. The Centrino bundles include, in addition to the processor, an Intel 855GM or 855PM chip set and either the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 or 2200BG wireless card. Prices for the new Centrino bundles will range from $299 to $356 in lots of 1,000 units, company officials said.

The new chips are part of Intel’s recently-launched Dothan family, which increases the Level 2 cache of the microprocessor from 1MB to 2MB. Intel in January delayed the Dothan chip to make “circuit modifications.” Notebooks containing the Dothan chip began shipping in May.

The company also announced that it would sell ultra-low-voltage Pentium M processors individually, ranging in speeds from 1.0GHz to 1.4GHz. The 1.0GHz ULV Pentium M 723 will cost $241, while the 1.10GHz model 733 and the 1.4GHZ model 738 will cost $262 and $284, respectively.

Intel scattered a number of isolated price cuts across its product lines in support of the new introductions. The chip maker trimmed the price of its 1.10GHz model 713 ultra-low-voltage Centrino platform bundle to between $299 and $313 (a savings of between 6.3 percent and 6.6 percent), depending on the chip set and wireless card that a customer selects. The price of the 1.10GHz Pentium M 713 was also cut by 8 percent to $241.

Intel also cut the price of two Mobile Intel Pentium 4 processors to $186, highlighting the confusion in Intel’s naming scheme.

For now, a 2.80GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor with Hyper-Threading technology containing 1MB of L2 cache, fabricated on a 90-nanometer process, costs $186. That’s the same price as the 2.80GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading technology, except that the second model boasts only 512KB of L2 cache and is fabricated on a 130-nm process. Fortunately for component purchasers, the identical pricing is Intel’s tip-off that the slower model will be discontinued.

Intel also dropped the price of the 900MHz ultra-low-voltage Celeron M 333 to $144, an 11 percent drop. In what appeared to be an unrelated move, the company also reduced the price of the 2.8GHz Pentium 4 desktop processor 8 percent to $163.

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