AMD 4000+ chip to provide thrust to jumbo laptops

AMD has released a new set of mobile processors designed for consumer laptops it hopes will sell well enough to take a chunk out of Intel's Centrino empire.

The company said its Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor 4000+ is meant for full-size laptop computers -- machines with screen sizes measuring 15 to 17 inches diagonally. Already, Fujitsu Siemens and VoodooPC have jumped on the bandwagon and said they would include the new Athlon chip as part of their latest laptop offerings.

AMD said its 4000+ can handle 32-bit and 64-bit processing jobs and includes 802.11a/b/g wireless capabilities. The mobile Athlon also includes virus protection hardwired to the chip that works in tandem with Microsoft Windows Service Pack 2. In addition to its 4000+, AMD said it now offers five other Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors.

The PC industry and chipmakers are both gearing up for the back-to-school season, the second-most busy time of the year for PC makers. So far, 2005 is shaping up to be promising for the industry. PC shipments exceeded expectations in the second quarter.

Intel and AMD recently slashed prices on their processors to spur extra sales as the year begins to wind down.

AMD is pushing both its mobile Athlon and Turion processors as alternatives to Intel's Centrino-based mobile Pentium chips, which include Intel's consumer-focused version previously code-named Sonoma.

AMD managed to carry some momentum in the first quarter of 2005, when the company eked out 16.9 per cent of the x86 CPU market, according to Mercury Research. That number is less than a third of a percentage point higher than it was for the last three months of 2004.

But Intel CEO Paul Otellini said Intel's Sonoma platform represents more than half of Intel's mobile shipments. Intel recently reported $9.2bn in revenue for the second quarter.