New Pentium II, Celeron lines
Today, PC makers are expected to announce their new Celeron systems and new machines based on the 450-MHz Pentium II.
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 version, Celeron A, code-named Mendocino, and performance has subsequently improved, some say rivaling Pentium IIs.
But Celeron A's marked improvements are putting PC makers in a bit of a quandary as they try to figure out how to market Celeron A systems that may rival Pentium II systems for performance.
"I do think it's an artificial division," said Dataquest analyst Scott Miller. "What the market seems to understand very well is clock speed. Vendors who offer Pentium II systems overlapping in clock speed with Celeron systems will find it more difficult to sell the Pentium II products."
Compaq is expected to announce its Presario 5050 with a 333-MHz Celeron processor. The new system will feature 96MB of memory, an 8GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive and 56-kbps modem, for $1,299, according to market research firm ARS.
Gateway is expected to use the 333-MHz Celeron chip in its G and GP series systems for consumers and small businesses. Gateway's use of the chip is significant because it was one of the larger manufacturers to forego the first round of Celeron chips.
Other PC makers such as IBM, Toshiba, Packard-Bell, and Hewlet-Packard are all slated to announce their Celeron A systems Monday as well, with most configurations coming in under $1,100.
Online PC marketer iDot will being selling Celeron A systems on its Web site on Monday as well. IDot's 333-MHz Celeron A with 64MB of memory, a 6.4GB hard drive, 56-kbps modem and CD-ROM drive will cost $1,099, according to sources at that company.