Intel banks on notebook boom

Chip giant Intel is banking on the growth of notebook sales by introducing a low-cost mobile Celeron and two low-power Pentium III-M chips for ultra portable machines.

The new Celeron chip, which runs at 1.06GHz, uses the company's 130-nanometer rather than 180-nanometer process. The circuits are 50 per cent smaller which brings manufacturing costs down and makes them more energy efficient.

The Pentium III-M chips consume less power and enable notebooks to have smaller insulating equipment and longer battery life. Intel will release a 750MHz ultra low voltage chip for mini notebooks and an 866MHz model for slightly bigger machines.

Notebook manufacturers IBM and Toshiba are preparing to unveil machines that incorporate the new chip technology.