As expected, PC makers today announced their new Celeron systems and the fastest
Pentium II systems yet, in concert with the arrival of
Intel's new and improved low-cost
processor and its newest Pentium II processor.
Almost every major PC maker today announced systems featuring Intel's
newest processors, including Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Toshiba, IBM, Micron, and Internet PC marketer iDot.com.
| System |
Hard Drive |
Price |
| Celeron |
| Dell Dimension V333C |
6.4 GB |
$1,399 |
| Gateway GP6-333c |
6.4 GB |
$1,299 |
| Compaq Presario 5050 |
8 GB |
$1,199 |
| NEC PowerMate 5100 |
2.1 GB |
$1,039 |
| Toshiba Equium 7000 |
BTO* |
$999 |
| IDot.com 300LXA |
4.3 GB |
$999 |
| Micron
Client Pro Ce |
3.2 GB |
$1,649 |
| Pentium II 450 MHz |
| NEC PowerMate 8100 |
6.4 GB |
$2,400 |
| IDot.com 450BX |
10.1 GB |
$2,299 |
| Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 8390 |
10 GB |
$2,499 |
| Gateway G6-450 |
10 GB |
$2,479 |
| Compaq Presario 5660 |
12 GB |
$2,399 |
| Toshiba Equium 7000 |
BTO* |
$2,299 |
| Micron
Client Pro Cs 450 |
6.4 GB |
$2,299 |
| *Build To Order |
Intel's first Celeron processor came under fire because it lacked a
critical feature called "secondary cache" memory, which serves as a data
reservoir for the processor and boosts performance. But Intel has brought
back the cache memory in the newest Celeron, code-named Mendocino, and
performance has subsequently improved, some say rivaling Pentium IIs.
Gateway's inclusion of the 333-MHz
Celeron in its G and GP series systems for consumers and small businesses
is significant because it was one of the larger manufacturers to forego the
first round of Celeron chip.
"Now that Intel has added cache to (the Celeron), it performs
pretty well. Given all of the processors available at that price point,
Celeron is the best offering. We didn't offer the version (without cache
memory) because the price-performance (equation) didn't work
out," said Bart Brown, vice president of marketing at Gateway.
Compaq today introduced its Presario
5050 featuring the newest Celeron processor, which includes an 8GB hard
drive, 96MB of memory, CD-ROM drive, 56-kbps modem, and starts at $1,199.
Systems based on the new 450-MHz Pentium II chip for desktops are also
appearing. IBM, for instance, is expected to announce this week a consumer
PC code-named Cobra with the new chip which will come with 128MB of memory
and a 16.8GB hard disk for about $2,000. Hewlett-Packard has also
announced a new Pavilion consumer PC with the 450-MHz chip.
But the new Celeron chip's marked improvements do put PC makers in a bit of
a quandary as they try to figure out how to market Mendocino systems that
may rival Pentium II systems for performance.
Although Intel's product line is a "little crowded at the low end,"
according to Roger Kay of IDC, the wealth
of processor choices may benefit PC makers, and by extension, customers.
"There are a lot of close choices, but PC makers can make their line
coherent by choosing among the offerings," Kay said. "No one's saying that
[a PC maker] has to take all of those chips."
Also, for high-performance applications, the Pentium II remains a superior
processor, according to Mike Wagner, director of product marketing for Toshiba. Nevertheless, he noted that
for typical PC applications like Internet access and word processing, the
performance gap tends to disappear.
"[With high-performance applications] Pentium II remains faster,"
Wagner said. "Intel is clearly stratifying their product line between
performance user and entry-level office user. The office user will be
Celeron."
Not everyone agrees that Intel's product line divisions reflect the reality
of PC users, though. "I do think it's an artificial division," said Dataquest analyst Scott Miller.
"Vendors who offer Pentium II systems overlapping in speed with Celeron
systems will find it more difficult to sell the Pentium II products."
Entry-level Celeron systems may also spearhead a move toward the
sub-$1,000 PC in the corporate market, which has not been as fast to adopt
low-cost PCs as the consumer market. Fully configured Celeron PCs may be
more attractive to corporate buyers than some of the pared-down low cost
systems currently available, according to Toshiba's Wagner.
"It will be interesting to see what [Celeron] means for the
corporate market. The sub-$1,000 PC has been hyped in the corporate market,
but it hasn't really materialized yet," Toshiba's Wagner said. "Although
everyone is talking about [the popularity of sub-$1,000 PCs]
corporate buyers insist on fully figured configurations because they have
longer product cycles."
Success in the sub-$1,000 market may be a mixed blessing for Intel, because
of the lower profit margins associated with that market segment, according
to both Kay and Miller. "Intel has a mixed motivation," Kay noted. "For
every Celeron it sells, it is not selling a Pentium II, and
[profit] margins are clearly higher at the high end. Still, if they
leave that flank unprotected, they'll have progressive erosion of market
share."
(Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer Network.)