Low-priced notebooks with Intels Banias core

In the first quarter of 2004 we can expect new mobile Intel Celerons with the Banias core for low-priced Centrino notebooks and tablet PCs.

Intel his Centrino technology is specially designed for mobile computing, to enable breaktrough mobile performance, with extended battery life and integrated wireless LAN capability and this in sleek, easy to carry notebook PCs.

The new mobile Celeron CPUs will use a 0.13 micron production process, a 400MHz FSB, and will feature 512KB L2 cache (Which is twice as much as the 'old' mobile Celerons).

The 1.3GHz Banias Celeron processors will start to be available in the first quarter of 2004, followed by 1.4GHz ones in the second quarter, while the current mobile Celeron processors will be gradually phased out, sources said. Since the new mobile Celeron processors will be much cheaper than Pentium M processors, they are expected to spur development of low-priced Centrino notebooks, said Taiwanese notebook makers. Centrino-based notebooks and Tablet PCs adopting the new mobile Celeron processors are expected to come with price tags of about US$1,000 and US$1,299, respectively, they added.

Source : Digitimes