AMD, Intel trim processor pricing

Advanced Micro Devices earlier this week lowered prices on notebook processors and a few desktop units, mostly to make way for new products.

The TL-60, a dual-core Turion chip for thin notebooks that runs at 2GHz, dropped 26 percent, from $354 to $263. The TL-56, which is a similar chip that runs at 1.8GHz, dropped from $263 to $220. The TL-52, which runs at 1.6GHz, waterfalled from $220 to $184.

On desktops, the Athlon 64 FX-62, a 2.8GHz monster chip for gamers, declined from $827 to $713. AMD posts more of its updated prices here, but it does not list the previous prices.

The price cuts on notebook processors will likely lead to discounts on AMD-based notebooks, if history is any indication. Notebook shipments continue to grow at the expense of desktops, although component shortages may create some supply problems this year.

AMD also said today that it is on track to ship chips produced on its 65-nanometer lines during the quarter. These chips will be faster, smaller and, ultimately, cheaper to produce than chips made on the 90-nanometer line. Intel has been popping out chips on 65-nanomteter factory lines for about a year, which has allowed Intel to put more pricing pressure on AMD.

Intel, meanwhile, made fewer cuts early this week. Most of those it did make were on the Celeron line. The Celeron D 360 for desktops went from $84 to $69, an 18 percent decline, while the Celeron 326, the cheapest chip Intel makes, went from $39 to $34. Intel prices range from $3,692 for an Itanium 2 model number 9050 to $34 for Celerons.

Cheaper Pentium Ms arrive

The chipmaker added the Pentium M 715 and the Pentium M 725, which run at 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz, respectively, to its recently introduced Pentium M 700 series of notebook chips. The 715 and 725 follow the launch last month of Intel's Pentium M 735, 745 and 755, which run at speeds of 1.7GHz to 2GHz.

The 700 series Pentium Ms are made with new underpinnings: a 90-nanometer processor design dubbed Dothan, which Intel has said offers a performance boost over its preceding Pentium M design, dubbed Banias. Like the other 700-series chips, the new 715 and 725 will also be offered as part of Intel's Centrino chip bundle for wireless notebooks.

Several PC makers added the Pentium M 715 to their notebook lines on Wednesday.

Toshiba incorporated the chip into its Tecra A2, a notebook designed for businesses. The Tecra model pairs the Pentium M 715 with a 15-inch screen, 512MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive and a combination CD burner/DVD-ROM drive for $1,599. The machine also uses Intel's 802.11b/g Wi-Fi module and chipset, making it a Centrino notebook.

Gateway will make the Pentium M 715 available as an option on its Gateway M275 tablet PC, the low-price Gateway M405 and the performance-oriented Gateway 450, a company representative said.

The 715 and 725 list for $209 and $241, respectively--the same price as Intel's previous Pentium M 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz chips--when purchased in 1,000 unit quantities. Intel often prices new chips the same as existing ones in order to encourage PC makers to quickly make the changeover.

The addition of the two processors means that the bulk of Intel's Pentium M line, everything except for its low-power Pentium Ms, has been moved to Dothan underpinnings.

Intel sneaks out a low-end Pentium M

The chip essentially increases the price-performance spectrum of the mobile chips sold under model numbers. Previously, the slowest and cheapest model number chip was the Pentium M 715, which runs at 1.5GHz and comes with 2MB of cache. Until the arrival of the Pentium M 705, all of the model number chips came from the Dothan generation of chips that came out earlier this year.

The Pentium M presumably sells for a little less than the Pentium M 715, which sells for $209 in quantities of 1,000, but the representative would not discuss pricing. A Dell Inspiron notebook equipped with a Pentium M 725 costs $50 more than the same notebook with a Pentium M 705. The Pentium M 725 itself sells for $241, or $32 more than the Pentium M 715.

Intel has actually been selling a 1.5GHz Banias chip for a while. The new chip is nearly identical, but it's not exactly a duplicate. There are minor architectural differences, which do not affect performance, and the chip is sold under a model number. The 1.5GHz Banias sells for $209 but is being phased out.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel has issued chips to accommodate customers several times in the past. Often, Intel takes an older, slightly cheaper chip and puts it in the package of new chips so that it can be used in current notebooks.

Making computing a people science [Computer News Middle East]

Intel’s people-centric approach is the top story on the website of cpilive.net, the website of Dubai-based Corporate Publishing International, which publishes amongst others Computer News Middle East.

“With its strong move into ethnographic studies, technology major Intel is all set to re-define the PC experience from being a computing centric one to a people centric model.”

“Intel’s ethnographers (also referred to as social scientists) believe that technology has to cater to human values of emotion and family more than just computing requirements.”

“Human beings fundamentally do not care about technology. What they care about are the emotions they feel when they use a product to achieve an objective at work or family life. As a technology company, Intel wants to push the boundaries and think about how we can make our products deliver on this aspect,” said Herman D’Hooge, Innovation Strategist, Platform Architecture and Solutions Division, Intel.

“Ethnography, the branch of anthropology that provides scientific description of individual human societies will therefore help the Intel team of scientists study human relationships and come up with ways in which technology become a part of enhancing human interaction.”

“You have to look high up on the scale by looking at human interaction. So Intel is taking a top down approach and understanding the customer first, instead of the technology,” D’Hooge added.

Moving to Windows 7--From Vista

If you recall, last week we performed the leap from Windows XP to Windows 7. In a nutshell: An in-place upgrade didn't fare well. Of course, in-place upgrades aren't supported from Windows XP to Windows 7. Given the heavily-used XP installation caused serious bloat to the Windows 7 installation, we can see why.

When we performed a clean installation and, with a bit of trepidation, used Windows Easy Transfer to move our files and settings from old machine to new, it worked better than we expected, but our final recommendation was simply to save your data, reformat, and start with a fresh, clean installation of Windows 7.

This week, we take ET editor Joel's Vista production machine—a well broken-in Core i7 based computer—and explore the various ways to make it into a Windows 7 PC. Before we begun, we mirrored the entire hard drive to a second drive, which Joel kept in a fireproof safe.

Intel's bridge for the digital divide

That's why the Classmate PC--a sub-$400 notebook that Intel is developing for kindergarteners through high school students in emerging nations--will come with about 1GB of flash memory instead of a hard drive so it can withstand accidents better.

As a threat deterrent, the notebook will come with asset-control software, so if it is out of the classroom for too many days, the notebook disables itself.

The Classmate will also sport a special version of Windows that prevents kids from accessing Internet sites or adding programs that have been designated by parents or teachers as off-limits.

The computer has software that can be used during classroom exercises. If a child tries to surf away from the lesson at hand, a message pops up saying, "Please pay attention to the professor."

The Classmate comes with a pink imitation-leather cover similar to the one Paul Otellini showed off in May. The notebook is part of a first wave of PCs that the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker hopes will help it establish the personal computer as the tool for bridging the digital divide.

Several individuals and organizations--MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, Microsoft, thin-client manufacturers, phone makers--are touting machines for bringing the Internet to Africa, rural Asia and Latin America. By various estimates, more than a billion PCs will be connected to the Internet by 2010.

That still leaves more than 5.5 billion people out, and they won't have much money. Bill Siu, general manager of Intel's Channel group, says that of the 800 million people worldwide who make more than $25,000 a year, 70 percent have access to a computer. Of the 4.7 billion people who make between $1,000 and $25,000, only 10 percent have access to a computer. The 1 billion who make less than $1,000 have virtually no access.

PCs are the best tools for reaching this market, Siu argues, because the world's software and communication tools are already written for them. Devices like the Simputer or Negroponte's $100 laptop are more isolated, he said.

"You need to transmit documents to other devices," he said. "So far, none of the (inexpensive alternative) devices have been particularly successful. One hundred dollars is pretty expensive for something that doesn't do the job."

Personal computers, however, are expensive, so Intel is taking a stock-car approach to design and stripping out the extras. The Affordable PC, another Intel-designed PC for this market, is a desktop that cannot be upgraded. It comes with 128MB or 256MB of memory, a 40GB drive, optical drive and two USB slots. Memory can't be added and some of the other options on typical western PCs are gone.

"PCI slots take up board space, which costs money, and then you need a bigger power supply," said Agatstein. "If you absolutely don't need it, take it out."

The machine comes with either Linux or Windows and ranges in price, with monitor, from $220 to $300. "Most of (the price variation) depends on the taxes in your country," he added.

Despite the emphasis on price, the box comes with a mobile Celeron chip. Using a low-powered notebook chip allows the PC maker to reduce the size of the computer. Low-powered mobile parts are also matched to oversized desktop heatsinks in other emerging-market PCs, so the machines can survive better when the outside temperature stays above 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

These PCs will be sold in conjunction with pay-as-you-go and credit programs to make it easier for poor people to buy them. For PCs set up in kiosks in villages, individuals will sell computer access time to their neighbors and pay off the computer over time. Governments in approximately 60 countries have created about 170 programs for people to buy PCs with credit.

One thing these new PCs will not have, however, is a special processor. A few years ago, Intel was contemplating creating a processor for emerging markets. It even kicked off some trials in Vietnam, according to sources.

The volumes, though, aren't large enough yet, said Siu. "You don't get the economy of scale with niche silicon," he said. "We're not focusing on a new piece of silicon for emerging markets."

The company may reconsider if the volumes reach the 50 million to 100 million range, he added.

Intel does not make these PCs. Instead, it designs them and gives free blueprints to manufacturers and the independent dealers who make up the channel.

"The channels are typically much stronger in emerging markets," Siu said. "The infrastructure is not there to call a 1-800 number and have a PC shipped by FedEx to your door."

Intel unveils new class of Pentium 4s

Intel introduced a line of Pentium 4 desktop chips Sunday that contain 2MB of secondary cache, twice as much as current Pentium 4s, as well as technology from its notebook line that's designed to cut power consumption. Larger caches, a pool of memory located on the processor, generally improve performance.

The four chips included in the new 600 series of Pentium 4s range in speeds from 3GHz to 3.6GHz, and all of them feature an 800MHz bus. The top-of-the-line 660 Pentium 4 sells for $605 in quantities of 1,000, while the 630 sells for $224.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker also unveiled another member of the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor family, which runs at 3.73GHz and contains a 1.066GHz bus. These chips are used inside computers for gamers and serious hobbyists.

The new chips in some ways can be seen as some of the last of their kind. Starting in the second quarter, Intel will begin to sell dual-core processors. These chips won't run as fast as single-core chips (or at least won't continue to maintain the pace of the current speed increases) but they will contain two separate "brains," thereby improving overall performance.

European Commission fines computer chipmaker Intel $1.45B

It is the largest fine the commission has ever imposed, said Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner for competition. Intel has said it plans to appeal the decision.

The commission found Intel abused its dominant market position in the market for computer chips known as the x86 computer processing unit (CPU), Kroes said. The abuse lasted more than five years, she said.

"Those x86 chips are the engine of the car, so to say," Kroes said at a news conference in Brussels, Belgium. "Your computer won't work without these chips."

Intel held a 70 percent share of the market during the period of the violations, she said.

"That Intel had such a large market share is not a problem in itself," Kroes said. "What is a problem is that Intel abused its dominant position. Specifically, Intel used illegal anti-competitive practices to exclude essentially its only competitor, and that reduced consumer choice -- and the whole story is about consumers."

Intel's actions frustrated innovation and reduced consumer welfare, Kroes said.

The commission found that Intel awarded major computer manufacturers rebates on the condition that they purchase all or most of their supplies from Intel.

Intel also paid Europe's biggest computer retailer, Media Markt, to sell Intel-based PCs exclusively, the commission found. Media Markt has some 200 megastores in nine countries.

The commission also found that Intel awarded payments to computer manufacturers so they would postpone or cancel the launch of products containing parts from its leading competitor, AMD.

"The commission found that these payments had the potential effect of preventing products for which there was a consumer demand from coming to the market," the commission said in a statement.

"Given that Intel has harmed millions and millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for more than five years, the size of the fine should come as no surprise," Kroes said.

Intel was allowed to present a defense to the commission's preliminary conclusions. But Kroes said the company "went to great lengths" to cover up its anti-competitive practices, resulting in a long and complex investigation.

In a statement on the company Web site, Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO said the company took strong exception to the ruling and planned to appeal.

"We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace -- characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices," Otellini said. "There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers.

He added that the compnay did not believe its practices violated European law and accused the Directorate General for Competition of the Commission of ignoring or refusing to "obtain significant evidence that contradicts the assertions in this decision."

Otellini added that the company had never sold products below cost but had invested in innovation, manufacturing and developing leadership technology with the result that it could "discount our products to compete in a highly competitive marketplace."

"Despite our strongly held views," Otellini concluded, "as we go through the appeals process we plan to work with the Commission to ensure we're in compliance with their decision."

Computer chipmaker Intel set to be slapped with huge EU fine

During the course of its probe, the commission alleged that Intel had provided "substantial rebates" to leading European personal computer retailers to sell only Intel-based PCs, and that it had bribed manufacturers to delay the launch of products using AMD chips.

EU inspectors carried out surprise raids at Intel offices in Germany and at retailers in Britain and Germany in February 2008 as part of the probe.

Intel is the world's largest chipmaker by sales, with annual revenue totalling 37.6 billion dollars in 2008.

In theory, the commission could levy a maximum fine worth 10 per cent of that amount, or 3.7 billion dollars. But experts note that this has rarely happened before.

The highest single fine ever imposed by the commission on a private company - 899 million euros (1.23 billion dollars) - was slapped on software giant Microsoft in 2008.

In total, the software giant has been asked to pay 1.7 billion dollars for persistently refusing to offer competitors key software data at a fair price.

The Intel decision was expected to be announced by the commission during a press conference scheduled for 1130 CET. Intel is to hold a press conference "pertaining to the European Commission's competition case involving Intel" at 1300 CET. (dpa)

Intel Corporation

The Intel Corporation is the leading maker of semiconductor chips and is known for its quest to make computer chips ever smaller, faster and cheaper. It also makes circuit boards and other semiconductor products, which are the building blocks of computers, servers, consumer electronics and communications devices.

As Intel tries to expand beyond the personal computer chip business, its long unheralded software developers have stolen some of the spotlight from its hardware engineers. These programmers find themselves at the center of Intel's forays into areas like mobile phones and video games.

In recent years, Intel has been trying to stage a turnaround after a period in which poor execution and intense competition combined to cause it to lose market share and drive down the value of the company's shares. After losing share to its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices, in 2005 and 2006, Intel's chief executive, Paul S. Otellini, reorganized the company in 2007, laying off 10 percent of the work force and divesting itself of certain businesses. In 2009 the company was hit with an antitrust action by the European Union. Intel's first-quarter 2009 revenue fell 26 percent to $7.1 billion and profit fell 55 percent.