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The article features the dual-core central processing units developed by AMD and Intel. The 3.2 GHz Pentium Extreme Edition 840 from Intel is initially sold for $1100. Intel's cheapest dual-core processing is the 2.8 GHz Pentium D 820. AMD launched its 2.4 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor in August 2005 which costs $900. Following this, AMD has launched several more-affordable dual-core chips, including the Athlon 64 X2 3800+. The dual-core processors were compared and contrasted and the results showed that the processors developed by AMD posses superior performance over other processors. INSET: HIGH-END VS. LOW-END DUAL-CORE SYSTEMS.

Presents misconceptions about microprocessors. Availability of microprocessors; Share of Intel Corp. in the market; Importance of hardware instruction set of the processor.

Presents information related to a smouldering dispute in the computer industry. Details of the clash over Intel Corp's increasing encroachment into the PC maker's market; Explains that Compaq was one of the few big PC makers that were still profitable, and the only one making money in the booming; Reveals that to stay ahead of its competition, Intel reckons it must release a new microprocessor generation.

The article reports on the evolution of x86 microprocessor which was introduced by Intel Corp. The x86 family has progressed from desktop personal computers to servers, portable computers and supercomputers. The term x86 refers to the set of machine language instructions that certain microprocessors from Intel and a few other companies can execute. X86 processors beginning with the 8086 and including the 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486 and various Pentium models right down to today's multicore chips and processors for mobile applications have incorporated a growing x86 instruction set.

Features several microprocessors. AMD's Opteron and Athlon 64; Intel's Itanium 2; Sun's UltraSparc III; IBM/Motorola's PowerPC; MIPS' MIPS64.

The article reports on the incorporation of low wattage Intel(R) L5420 Xeon(R) 45nm Quad Core processors (Harpertown), which was announced by NextComputing, into its line of NextDimension flextop computers. It cites that NextComputing offers up to two Harpertown Quad Core processors models, which includes NextDimension Pro and Pro HD, NextDimension Evo and Evo HD, and Vigor Pro SD. Moreover, Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor 5400 series provide an increased clock speed of 2.5 GHz and 12MB cache, enhancing application performance in graphics, video encoding and processing, 3D imaging, application servers, data mining, and pattern recognition and data compression algorithms.

Discusses the competition in personal computer microprocessor market in the United States. Impact of the performance of Intel Corp. to the financial status of other companies; Details on the acquisition of companies by Intel in 1999.

This article reports that Apple Computer Inc. was moving away from International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.'s PowerPC chips, which had powered every Mac model for years is moving toward Intel processors from Intel Corp. It was announced by Steve Jobs, an official from IBM in June 2005. It was a big deal and the fact that he gave the speech at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in front of the very people who write the programs that make the Mac what it is. Developers would need to invest some time and effort in making Universal binaries for the latest Mac transition. By making his announcement when Jobs was giving developers a head start, he promised that the first Intel Macs would be out by June 2006. To help developers with their work, Apple offered to rent them a Developer Transition Kit, a Pentium-based Mac system. Many of the developers who have already released Universal applications are reaping the benefits of heeding Steve Jobs's advice. When outlining the plan to move to Intel processors, Jobs urged the developers who had not adopted Apple's Xcode programming tools to do so.

The article presents an interview with Gadi Singer, an executive of Intel Corp. Singer helps Intel's diverse product groups develop "platforms" that include multiple chips and software, architectures that contain multiple CPUs and operating modes, and devices that represent the convergence of computing and communications capabilities. According to him, his role is primarily around technologies and capabilities. Convergence is happening and is a major force that drives what people design as well as how people design. Convergence is having systems with strong computing and communications capabilities that are tightly integrated together. Within wireless design, the challenges include better coverage and broader communications.

This article reports that by announcing plans to maintain its current per-processor server software licensing, Microsoft Corp. has pleased customers and, in the process, put serious pressure on competing software developers to do the same. There had been concern among some customers that Microsoft would adopt a per-core licensing plan that based fees on the number of cores running within a single processor, effectively doubling or quadrupling the fees. Kristin Hollins, an Oracle Corp. spokesperson, in Redwood Shores, California said that their license policy has not changed in this regard, they charge per CPU. If an eight-way box has 32 CPUs, customers pay for 32 CPUs. Both Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have plans to deliver dualcore processors for server hardware, and both vendors' road maps include plans for multicore chips. As the chip development moves apace, customers such as James Holt, director of server development at Townsend Analytics Ltd., a financial services software developer in Chicago, are shunning Oracle's approach.

The article evaluates several laptop computers using Pentium M microprocessors from Intel. The Pentium M microprocessors come in 1.7, 1.8, and 2 gigahertz speeds, and boast several improvements over the prior generation of Pentium M chips. The laptop computers tested were Inspiron 8600C from Dell, Compaq Business Notebook Nc6000 from Hewlett-Packard (HP), 450XL from Gateway, and ThinkPad T42 from IBM. As expected, the Inspiron 5600C and Compac Nc6000 notebooks, which had the fastest processors, earned the top scores on PC WorldBench4. The four new laptops completed both the AutoCAD and Photoshop tests in about three-quarters of the average time that three Pentium M laptops tested earlier took on the same tests. Battery life is good. Three of the new units lasted between 4 and 5 hours, and the HP over 6 hours. The Dell and Gateway are desktop replacements with big screens. The Dell weighs 8.3 pounds, and the Gateway 7.5 pounds. For their part, the mainstream HP and IBM units have 14.1 inch screens, and with their AC adapters, they weigh 6.6 and 5.7 pounds, respectively. The latest crop of Pentium M systems offers a terrific blend of performance and battery life for a $100 to $200 premium over previous models.

Reports on Intel's introduction of Pentium chips for notebooks. Company's introduction of a chip-numbering scheme that puts more emphasis on overall performance than clock speed; Benefits offered by Intel's products.

Reports on Intel Corp.'s launch of LeGrand technology that is integrated into Prescott, its next-generation Pentium processor. Groundwork laid by IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard and Nokia for using LeGrand in their own computers and handsets; Objective of the trusted-computing initiative.

Focuses on Rise Technology, a central processing unit (CPU) manufacturer located in Santa Clara, California. Efforts of Rise Technology to build low cost CPUs and sell them at low prices; Competition with Intel Corp.; Details of Rise Technology's MP6 computer chip; The competitive aspects of the chip.

The article discusses how the microprocessor company Intel is coping with competition from smaller companies. Intel's stranglehold on the supply of microprocessors for use in IBM-compatible personal computers has proved lucrative. The firm's 486DX microprocessor, a chip found in the most powerful desktop PCs, sells for over $300, but costs about $20 to make. Those sort of numbers have attracted competitors into a market which, until 1990, Intel had to itself. The most noticeable part of Intel's response to this competitive threat has been a slew of lawsuits. While it ties up its rivals in the courts, Intel is also using the $750 million it will spend this year on R&D to race ahead of them. The firm's new Pentium chip will be three times faster than its predecessor.

The article reports that Apple Inc.'s recent purchase of microprocessor design firm P.A. Semi Inc. has triggered a wave of speculation over what the computer maker plans to do with its newly acquired asset. Apple bought the 150-person company to utilize its engineering expertise and experience in developing low-power chips, in order to better work with suppliers such as Intel Corp. In other words, members of the team that created the PWRficient processor to appear in Apple's future ventures with Intel and other component suppliers has contributed significantly. As Apple has proven with previous acquisitions, it is the engineers that count.

The article reports that Intel Corp. is set to introduce its Penryn family of 16 45-nm processors that employ high-k dielectrics to regulate current leakage. While Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) still has the architectural lead, because it has four CPU cores and memory controller on a single die with a fast interconnect, the Penryn chips surpass the 2-GHz data rates that AMD has attained with its 65-nm server CPUs.

This article offers news briefs related to the computer industry. The European Commission has accused Intel Corp. of abusing its dominant position in the micro-processor market to exclude its rival Advanced Micro Devices, in breach of European antitrust rules. According to an announcement by Quark Inc., students worldwide who acquire their desktop publishing software QuarkXPress under educational licenses can continue to use the software commercially after they've graduated.

The article reports that Intel Corp. has developed its first tera-scale microprocessor which is capable of crunching a trillion arithmetic calculations per second. The 80-core processor has 40 times the processing power of Intel's quad-core processors and is equivalent in power to a teraflop supercomputer. Meanwhile, Intel has developed a programming model known as Ct to help programmers exploit highly multicore systems.

The article reports that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has reassured the information technology (IT) industry that it can deliver both of its 65-nanometer (nm) and 45-nm processors on time. According to the company, its manufacturing facilities can keep pace with its larger competitor Intel Corp. During a meeting on May 21, 2006, AMD accounted that it is on its schedule to release the two processors and will also produce a 45-nm chips in 2008. Meanwhile, the author believes that Intel has an advantage in terms of manufacturing since it has more facilities than AMD.

The article reports that Intel has announced last week that it plans to make its microprocessors totally lead-free by 2008. Intel will be eliminating lead in the packaging of its Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Xeon 45-nanometer processors during the second half of 2007, and in its 65-nanometer chipset products in 2008.

The article comments on the development of the processor road map by Intel Corp. in the U.S. The company's architectural road map addresses the usual notebook, desktop, and server markets. It also provides information about the performance application of the processor products developed by the company.

The article discusses the recent trend of the computer industry celebrating the anniversaries of various product innovations. The five-year-anniversary of the iPod was celebrated in the autumn of 2006, by newspapers from around the world giving tributes to the music player. At the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, a symposium was held to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Intel's 4004 microprocessor.

This article reports on the ongoing rivalry between computer chip-makers Intel and AMD. Intel was long the leader but a certain amount of complacency set in and AMD was innovative enough to exploit them. But Intel slashed costs and introduced the first four-core chips ahead of schedule, and more importantly, ahead of AMD.

The article reports that several computer makers are overclocking personal computers at their factories and covering them with a standard warranty. The move is prompted by Intel's Core 2 Duo processor which makes overclocking safer. An overclocked personal computer can provide better performance than one left at its factory settings. Companies such as ABS, Falcon Northwest, and Voodoo offer over-clocked personal computers with warranties, and say demand for them is rising. Gateway has reportedly discussed such an offering.

The article reports that Intel Corp. plans to eliminate 10,500 jobs or approximately 10 percent of its workforce, through attrition, layoffs and the sale of underperforming units. The company projects a savings of approximately $5 billion over the next two years with the job cuts. The overhaul comes as the company struggles amid a price war with main rival Advanced Micro Devices.

The article introduces the Core 2 Duo processor, known as Merom, by Intel Corp. It reports that PC manufacturers are focusing on Merom for their laptops that offer the latest step in the multistaged introduction of Intel's highly touted Core 2 Duo chip family with a performance increase of 20 percent versus its predecessor, the Core Duo, with holding power consumption to nearly the same level. It explains that the switch from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo processors in current notebooks only involves a system software upgrade and PC manufacturers are expected to use the chip to upgrade many systems.

The article focuses on the initiative of Intel to expand its market to Linux users. The microprocessor-manufacturing company sees its 64-bit Itanium chip as a key growth driver for architecture and are looking at ways to enhance chip and the systems that run on it to make them more attractive to Linux users. Recent enhancements to Linux kernel for Itanium includes memory error recovery, central processing unit hot plugging, and patches from Intel and Hewlett Packard related to Montecito support; upcoming support for Xen, and work with Red Hat and Novell to ensure that their support the latest Itanium features.

The article focuses on Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (HP's) upcoming Itanium-based blade server as the latest step toward what the original equipment manufacturer views as the next wave in blade computing, where more and more data center components are offered in a bladed fashion. It runs on Intel Corp.'s Itanium 2 processor and supports the HP-UX 11.i operating system. The two-way system will broaden HP's BladeSystem offerings, which currently run on Xeon chips from Intel and Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. It also grows operating system support, which now includes Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and Linux. HP officials see the evolution of bladed computing in three steps. The first step was the introduction. The second step, currently under way, is the form factor going mainstream, and the third step will be including most components in a flexible and integrated blade platform. HP's new system will first run on the single-core "Madison" Itanium 2 chip with speeds of up to 1.6 gigahertz and 3 megabyte of cache, but the company plans to adopt the dual-core "Montecito" when Intel releases it in the middle of 2006.

The article features the 64-bit computing systems launched by AMD and Intel in the summer of 2005. Sempron central processors which are developed by AMD range from $60 to $129 each unit. While the Celeron processors manufactured by Intel range from $145 to $351. Tests were conducted to assess the performance of the processors installed on two machines developed by Polywell. The test results indicated that these processors will not significantly improve the performance of personal computers, especially the low-end computers.

This article reports that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Intel Corp. continue making moves to increase the performance of their processors while controlling the amount of power they consume. Tweaks in the 90-nanometer production process are enabling AMD to bump up the frequency to 2.4GHz while keeping the power consumption stable, an important move for data center administrators looking to balance the use of smaller and more powerful servers with the thermal and power issues that can arise. Steve Johnson, senior analyst for the mathematics department at Texas A&M University, said having more powerful processors that do not increase power consumption is important for people like him, who run clusters of systems. Johnson will be bringing on another midsize to large cluster within the next 18 months and plans to stick with Opteron-based systems, given their price/performance advantages over Intel systems. For its part, Intel plans to reduce the power consumption of its chips right at the factory.

This article reports that chip maker Intel Corp. through its investment arm, Intel Capital, has joined the list of investors in Virtual Iron, whose technology is designed to enable data-center-level virtualization. Intel and Virtual Iron have also entered into a collaboration agreement in which Virtual Iron products will work with Intel's upcoming chip-level virtualization technology. Virtual Iron's VFe creates a virtualized environment in which server, storage and network resources can be viewed as a single pool. Intel plans to incorporate virtualization into future generations of its processors, starting next year. The move is part of Intel's plans for improving the performance of its processors through embedded technologies rather than by simply cranking up speed.

This article presents information on latest home-entertainment products from Intel Corp. So far, entertainment and the PC have not been a successful fit. But last week, Intel said it would overcome the many false starts suffered by the industry in winning a slot in home-entertainment systems by releasing a platform reference design to drive adoption, similar to what it did with Centrino. During a keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum, where the company launched Viiv, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said that it's fair to say that the industry has talked about this kind of transition before, and that it was happening or about to happen for many, many years.

The article informs that Intel Corp. will roll out a next-generation Pentium architecture geared for energy-efficient, multicore processors at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco next week. The new architecture is expected to continue power-savings concepts of the Pentium M, like using shorter pipelines than the desktop Pentium 4, as well as shortcuts to launch common instructions. It will also transition the Pentium M from 32 to 64 bits. Finally, it will provide a more thoughtful approach to multicore than Intel's initial products, which sometimes simply put two die in a common package.

This article reports that Intel Corp. provided details of a microprocessor product to be launched next year. The plan includes a strong focus on lower-power chip options and plans to spend $3 billion for a new chip factory. Intel projects that 85% of all its server processors shipped by the end of 2006 will be dual core. Intel is establishing three Xeon levels based on performance and power dissipation, which is the amount of heat the processor generates. Intel is establishing four lines of server processors with a new numbering system.

The article reports on the launch of the latest upgraded desktop models, the ThinkCenter M52 and A52, by Lenovo Group Ltd. The models will include Intel Corp.'s new dual-core Pentium D chip and 945G chip set which Lenovo had purchased earlier. Dilip Bhatia, program director of Lenovo's worldwide ThinkCenter brand, said that the new ThinkCentres would be available in mid-June 2005. Intel officials predict the role of this technology in the future development of desktops. Other PC makers like Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, California and Dell Inc. of Round Rock, Texas are also embracing this new technology.

The article presents several news related to the computer industry. Paul Otellini replaces Craig Barrett as chief executive officer of Intel Corp. The move was made official during a shareholders meeting. Intel stumbled several times in the previous year. Among the problems were delays in its "Dothan" Pentium M mobile chip and the cancellation of its"Tejas" entium 4 chip. Palmone has announced that Ed Colligan will permanently assume the role of chief executive officer. Colligan joined PalmOne's predecessor, Palm Computing, in 1993 as vice president of marketing and was part of the team that helped launch the original PalmPilot device. PalmOne's new LifeDrive Mobile Manager is a bit like a mobile suitcase. The LifeDrive is the first PDA on the U.S. market with a 4GB hard drive and is also PalmOne's first mobile device with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b and Bluetooth 1.1 support, so users can transfer and share digital content. The LifeDrive allows wireless e-mail access from IMAP, POP or Exchange electronic-mail accounts.

The article focuses on developments in the computer industry. The largest changes have happened to Intel Corp., the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. AMD Corp.'s Opteron chips were then becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. On top of these processor events, the personal computer industry is about to go through a major set of changes in 2004 and 2005. The base design will change more in one year than ever before. How this will play with businesses and home users is still an open question. The biggest PC industry change is driven by AMD's 64-bit extensions to the original Intel x86 architecture.

Reports on the plans of Intel Corp. to expedite the transition to dual-core processors with a slate of products to be made available by the end of 2005. Background on the company's expansion into dual-core processors; Number of dual-core and multi-core projects under way as of March; Schedule of release of the processors.

Focuses on the decision of processor manufacturer Intel Corp. to expand into the creation of product platforms that leverage technologies from across the company to target markets ranging large companies to digital homes in 2005. Research and development investments; Success of the company's Centrino mobile-computing platform; Planned upgrades to Centrino in 2006.

This article looks at the plans of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) in the 64-bit desktop processor market in 2005. Intel will make its foray into the 64-bit desktop processor arena by May 2005, with a new line of high-end Pentium 4 central processing units (CPU) based on the company's Extended Memory 64 Technology, according to Bill Kirby, the company's director of desktop marketing and strategic planning. The new product line, which will come with several silicon-level enhancements, including a larger L2 cache, will carry the 64-bit capabilities to its existing 500-series Pentium 4 CPU, as well as to its 300-series budget Celeron D processors. Though Intel expects to offer a top-to-bottom desktop lineup of 64-bit CPU this year, it has no plans to market a 64-bit-capable mobile processor. AMD, which began selling its Athlon 64 desktop CPU in September 2003 and later added the Mobile Athlon 64, is set to launch a new, second-generation 64-bit notebook CPU called the Turion by midyear. AMD plans to roll out its first dual-core desktop processors in the second half of the year. The company does not expect to offer a dual-core mobile CPU this year, however. Intel intends to launch its dual-core desktop processors sometime after midyear, and it expects to begin rolling out mobile products by year's end with a full-scale launch in early 2006.

This article offers a look at changes in the computer industry in 2004 and 2005. The largest changes have happened to Intel Corp., the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. The 90 nanometer Prescott chips hit the performance web sites with unimpressive marks, some slower than the existing 130 nanometer Northwood Pentium processors. Sun Microsystems Inc. is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. Intel has seriously stumbled in the processor market in three areas. The company compounded its mistake by assuming no one else would dare propose or build 64-bit extensions. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will gain market share and reputation into 2005. No more upgrades for ATX from Intel, but AMD is fine with ATX cases because its power and cooling requirements still fit the ATX design. These technical problems will be compounded by a marketing problem as Intel is now changing from a frequency based advertising to a confusing number based system that has no clear relationship between processor number and performance, especially between different x86 implementations.

The article looks at changes in the U.S. computer industry. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. On the Itanium side, IBM is taking its Power processor architecture to levels that are very competitive with Intel's Itanium. Intel's plan to dominate the high end processor market with its proprietary Itanium design now faces challenges from AMD below and IBM. Sun Microsystems is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. It has also extended its systems line to embrace AMD's Opteron and Linux while continuing to enhance the Solaris operating system. On top of these processor events, the personal computer industry is about to go through a major set of changes in 2004 and 2005. The base design will change more in one year than ever before. How this will play with businesses and home users is still an open question.

This article discusses the changes in the computer industry as April 2004. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Its 90 nanometer Prescott chips were unimpressive and had several flaws. Meanwhile, Intel's rival, AMD, released Opteron chips, designed as 64-bit extensions to the original Intel x86 architecture. In one stroke, AMD turned an obsolete design into one that will live at least another twenty years. However, it does not guarantee Intel dominance in x86. While the computer segment is quite large, the most profitable part of the market is in server systems from four processor to supercomputer designs and clusters. The big three--IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems--will keep things interesting in this arena. There are clear indications that all three companies have reacted to the change in the computing landscape in similar ways. Both IBM and HP have been consolidating their overlapping systems into a more cost effective set, eliminating redundant capabilities and reducing software duplication. Sun is a recent convert to this approach as it focuses on its segment of the market and drives towards efficiency. Each of these companies has its own set of plans.

The article reveals changes and developments in the computer industry. The computer industry looked pretty predictable six months ago. Since then there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. These unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. The largest changes have happened to Intel, the world's biggest processor maker. Intel was set to bring its 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. AMD's Opteron chips were then becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. On the Itanium side, IBM is taking its Power processor architecture to levels that are very competitive with Intel's Itanium. Intel's plan to dominate the high end processor market with its proprietary Itanium design now faces challenges from AMD below and IBM above. Sun Microsystems is another company in the throes of change. It has just cancelled its next planned processor, the UltraSparc V, in order to go with new multicore designs named Niagara and Rock. It has also extended its systems line to embrace AMD's Opteron and Linux while continuing to enhance the Solaris operating system.