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AMD moves into Toshiba notebooks

Toshiba says it will use chips from Advanced Micro Devices, a strong signal that the chipmaker is making headway in the portable computer market.

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Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Toshiba, one of the largest notebook PC suppliers in the United States, said today that it will use chips from Advanced Micro Devices, a strong signal that the chipmaker is making headway in the portable computer market.

On Friday, a report said that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) K6 family of desktop processors outsold all Intel-based desktop PCs in the U.S. retail market for the first time.

But the Toshiba deal provides further evidence that AMD is also well on its way to taking a large chunk of the retail notebook market. Compaq already uses AMD chips in most of its Presario portables.

Toshiba and Compaq are two of the largest suppliers to major retail chains such as CompUSA and Circuit City.

Toshiba said it is adding AMD's mobile K6-2 processor to its popular Satellite notebooks. Toshiba's Satellite line is sold both to retail and to business customers.

This news comes in the wake of announcements last week from Gateway, IBM, and Compaq, who all announced new AMD desktop systems.

Also, on Friday, a report from market researcher PC Data said the AMD K6 line accounted for 43.9 percent of all desktop PC processor sales in January. AMD benefited from a strong demand for PCs selling for less than $1,000, which made up more than 65 percent of the market in January, the first time this price segment has exceeded 60 percent of overall unit sales.

Toshiba has been shipping notebooks in both Japan and Canada with AMD processors, but the new Satellites are the first such systems to hit American store shelves. The company has been struggling in recent months to regain market share lost to Compaq, which has offered AMD notebooks since January.

Toshiba's Equium desktops run solely on Intel processors.

Toshiba today unveiled its Satellite 2545XCDT and 2545CDS, both running the K6-2 at 333 MHz. By including the less-expensive AMD processor, Toshiba is able to stuff the CDT model with fancy notebook features such as a 14.1-inch Active matrix LCD screen and 64MB of memory for $1,899.

Toshiba also announced today a new notebook based on the Intel Pentium II processor. The Satellite 4060CDT uses a 333-MHz version of the chip. The 4060CDT also offers up to a 4.3GB hard drive, modem, and 64MB of memory, for around $1,899.

Finally, the company also announced that it has expanded its popular Portege ultra-portable notebook line with the Portege 3020CT and 3025CT. The sub-3 pound portables feature a 300-MHz Pentium MMX processor, up 6.4GB in hard drive capacity, and a 10.1 inch display for $1,999.