Intel launches chip-price war
Intel will release a 1.7GHz Pentium 4 processor on Monday and with it a scorched-earth
approach to the PC market.
The new chip, which will be featured in a number of PCs from major manufacturers, will increase overall desktop performance, especially on entertainment applications such as video encoding, according to company executives.
Equally important, though, Intel will slash the price of the Pentium 4 line and pour millions into advertising and software developer programs to ensure the chip penetrates nearly every segment of the sleepy PC market.
The 1.7GHz Pentium 4 will sell for $352 when it debuts, with PCs incorporating the chip selling for just less than $1,800, monitor included. Price cuts on 1.3GHz, 1.4GHz and 1.5GHz Pentium 4s slated for the following week will drop the base price of computers using the chip to the $1,000 mark. A little more than a year ago, 1GHz chips alone cost $1,299.
