200-MHz Motorola chip ready to roll

A 200-MHz PowerPC chip now shipping in volume from Motorola will start showing up in desktop and notebook systems from Apple, Motorola, and Macintosh clone makers Umax and Power Computing by the end of the year.

Originally announced at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference in May, the PowerPC 603e chip is 11 percent faster than Power Computing's 180-MHz PowerTower system and 33 percent speedier than the fastest current Power Macintosh, which runs on the 150-MHz PowerPC 604 chip.

Hardware manufacturers are paying $360 for the new chips when purchased in quantites of 1,000 or more.

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