CYRIL jedl CELERON

[Ross Hedvicek]

Intel introduces new Pentium, Celeron processors
April 15, 1998
Web posted at: 1:05 PM EDT (1305 GMT)

 SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) - Intel Corp. on
 Wednesday introduced its fastest Pentium
 processors so far, and its Celeron chip targeted at the
 market for low-cost personal computers.

 The new Pentium II processors from the world's biggest
 computer chip maker, which run at 350 and 400 megahertz,
 are priced at $621 and $824, respectively, in volume
 quantities of 1,000 units.

"Intel's goal is to deliver the best products for each
 segment of computing," Intel Executive Vice President
 Paul Otellini said in a statement.

The fastest Pentium II chips are targeted at both
corporate and home users. The chips provide more
processing power for advanced applications such as
three-dimensional software and the latest version of
Microsoft's Windows software, Windows 98, due out in
June.

Many of the new PCs designed around the Pentium II chips
come with Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) players for
full-motion video and accelerated graphics processors
for faster graphics.

Both Pentium II processors are available starting
Wednesday in desktop PCs, computer servers and
workstations from leading PC makers, including
International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard
Co., Gateway 2000 Inc., Compaq Computer Corp. and
others.

The Celeron processor, running at 266 megahertz,
is priced at $155 each in volume quantities of
1,000 units. Intel said Celeron-based PCs will be
available in the next few weeks from a variety of PC
makers.

Intel has priced its Celeron to compete in the rapidly
growing lower end of the PC market where it has been
notably absent with a specific low-cost product. The
Celeron will be the cheapest chip with Pentium II
technology, but the low price is reflected in the
design, which does not include the so-called Level 2
cache that provides a separate storage area for memory
on the chip.

The first versions of the chip have drawn some criticism
that they do not run as fast as comparable processors
from rival companies.

Among PC makers, Hewlett-Packard unveiled some new
models of its HP Pavilion computers starting as low as
$799, using the previous-generation Pentium with MMX
technology in those models. Hewlett-Packard also
unveiled a multimedia PC in its Pavilion line that uses
the Celeron chip with an initial price of $1,299.


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