Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the No. 2 maker of microprocessors that are the brains of personal computers, on Monday released its highest-performing chip for laptop computers as the company seeks to gain share in that market.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company said that its AMD Athlon 4 processor 1500+ is available as of Monday for $525 in lots of 1,000. Notebooks using the chip from No. 2 PC maker Compaq Computer Corp. will be available on Monday.
Its clock speed is 1.3 gigahertz, meaning that the tiny transistors that comprise a semiconductor can cycle on and off 1.3 billion times a second. It consumes an average of two watts of energy while running typical office computer programs.
AMD had set a goal last year of ending 2001 with a 50 percent share of the U.S. retail laptop market, but a spokeswoman said it did not reach that goal, citing depressed market conditions. At the same time, its chief rival, Intel Corp. INTC.O, became very aggressive during the quarter, dropping prices to gain market share against AMD.
News source: Reuters - AMD Unveils New Processor for Laptop Computers
