By | Tony Smith 15th March 2005 11:26

Intel 'plans' Pentium M price cuts

Faster, 2.26GHz version, too

Intel is planning to cut Pentium M processor prices by up to 33.6 per cent in response to the launch of AMD's Turion 64 mobile CPU, sources in Taiwan's notebook manufacturer community have claimed.

So reports DigiTimes, which says that the cuts will be applied across the mid- and high-ends of the PM line-up - the basis of Intel's Centrino platform - from the recently released 770 down to the 735. The cuts take on 400MHz frontside bus models and those with the newer 533MHz FSB.

What's really leading the price cuts is the Q3 launch of the 2.2GHz PM 780. Intel usually reduces the prices of other chip-family members when it introduces a new product to the line-up, and the expected PM cuts appear no different. According to the report, the launch and the price cuts will be made on Sunday, 24 July.

Turion 64 chips are already shipping, with notebooks based on the parts set to arrive over the coming month. AMD announced the new mobile processor in January, formally launching the first seven models last week. Even with the price cuts, Intel's mobile processors are more expensive that its rival's, ranging from $423 to $209, compared to $354 to $189 for the Turion line-up. ®