WE HAVE NOW SEEN the most recent
Intel desktop roadmaps which confirm speed revs for the Pentium 4 intermediate
between 1.5GHz and 2.0GHz, as reported on Akiba Pricewatch earlier this
week.
That means Intel has also pushed
back the 2GHz to Q3, at least.
We believe the changes to the
roadmaps are being made, at least in the case of the Pentium 4 family, for
marketing rather than technical reasons.
The roadmaps were shown to Intel
distributors and dealers earlier this week and the chips will be sold not
only directly to Intel PC customers such as Compaq, Dell and the rest, but
as boxed product through the retail channel too. No pricing details are
yet available.
And, at the same time, the roadmaps
also show that the 1.20GHz and 1.13GHz Pentium III Pabster, which Intel
had confirmed to us would be released in Q2, has fallen back to Q3, casting
doubt on whether we shall ever see them now.
These parts are .13 Tualatin
products, and, again, pose the question whether Intel is having problems
with its new process technology.
The new clock speeds Intel is
producing for the Pentium 4 are 1.6GHz, 1.8GHz and 1.9GHz, which Intel will
keep running for Q3 and Q4.
It still has plans to introduce
a 2.2GHz and a 2GHz Pentium 4 on the Northwood platform but these, currently,
looks like they're planned for around October.
The last desktop roadmaps we
saw, had held out the possibility of Intel introducing a 2GHz P4 as early
as June. The real question is why Intel has decided to slice the market
by intro-ing the different processor speed revs between now and September.
