Intel's Centrino 2 chips mushrooming on retail sites

Preempting Intel's official launch of its latest Centrino 2 mobile processors, PC makers and chip resellers are leaking processor details by letting customers preorder the chip through channels and in laptops.

The Centrino 2 platform, codenamed Montevina, is an upgrade to Intel's current Centrino platform and will include five Core 2 processors running at clock speeds between 2.26GHz and 3.06GHz. The chip will also come with WiMax support.

Due by the end of June, the launch of the chip was later delayed to July due to chipset problems. It is now due July 14.

The processors are being offered by Santech, a European PC vendor, in its X46 laptop. The laptop will support up to 4G bytes of RAM, include a 15.4-inch display, WiMax capabilities and wireless A/G/N networking. The X46 prices begin at €619 (US$963).

Earlier this year Pioneer Computers, an Australian PC maker became one of the earliest to offer Centrino 2 chips in its DreamBook Style 9008 laptop.

Chip resellers like Digital Spyders and Provantage are offering the fastest Centrino 2 chip, Core 2 Duo T9600 chip running at 2.8GHz with 6M bytes of cache, for $570. The dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo T9400, which runs at 2.53GHz and includes 6M bytes of cache, is available for between $330 to $360 on retail Web sites.

Other Centrino 2 processors to be launched by Intel will include the Core 2 Duo P9500 processor running at 2.53MHz with 6M bytes of cache, the Core 2 Duo P8600 running at 2.40MHz with 3M bytes of cache, and the Core 2 Duo P8400 running at 2.26MHz with 3M bytes of cache.

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