Recent news of a slump in the PC market have not put off the two major processor competitors from releasing their new products. Only last week Intel announced reduced revenue expectations for the quarter and PC sales in the US for April dropped by 22.5 percent. This week however, kicked off more positively with AMD announcing its new 0.13 micron Athlon XP 2200+ running at 1.8 GHz and Intel introducing its latest budget offering, the Celeron 1.8 GHz.
Both chips come at a time when both companies are presenting their cases for claiming the Fastest Processor Title. Analysts claim that even though the new range of Celerons is based on Pentium 4 architecture, a straight Athlon Celeron performance comparison is not
correct. The fact that Athlons perform more work per cycle, makes them more easily compared to Pentium 4's running at higher clock speeds.
According to Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research, consumers are actually better off looking at the model number, AMD's PR that is, which in this case suggests that the new Athlon is best compared against a Pentium 4 2.2 GHz.
Even if AMD's PR classification is accepted as a reasonable way of comparing chips, Intel is still some way ahead of its rival since Pentium 4's running at 2.4MHz and 2.53MHz are already available.
AMD's latest offering is expected to sell for under US$241.
AMD introduced the AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ with QuantiSpeed architecture, the first AMD desktop processor based on its 0.13 micron process technology. The new AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ delivers improved performance, lower power and a smaller die size while maintaining a stable, compatible Socket A infrastructure.
AMD is dedicated to excellence and continuously innovates with the customers' needs in mind. End users are demanding a better computing experience, and providing powerful solutions is our top priority, said Ed Ellett, vice president of marketing for AMD's Computation Products Group. AMD continues to focus on offering high-performance end user benefits such as faster rendering times, better database performance and smoother video and audio editing.
Desktop PCs based on the AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ are available today from Hewlett-Packard Company in the United States and Fujitsu-Siemens in Europe.
Software Companies Offer Support
InterVideo
InterVideo's WinDVD has become one of the most popular DVD players in the world not just because it looks and sounds great, but also because it is useful and fun to use your PC to watch DVDs, said Steve Ro, CEO and co-founder of InterVideo. Using the AMD Athlon XP processor to power WinDVD enables sharper images, more realistic sound, quicker access and review times and a better overall entertainment experience.
Ulead
The AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ showcases all the power and ultimate performance needed for Ulead's high-end multimedia software, including video editing, DVD authoring, photo editing and Web design, said Michael Yanez, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Ulead. Additionally, the close relationship between Ulead and AMD helps ensure a high level of compatibility and reliability between Ulead's award-winning software and AMD's powerful processors.
The True Performance Initiative (TPI) demonstrates AMD's commitment to provide customer-centric solutions by focusing on educating PC users about the importance of real-world application performance.
AMD has received an immense amount of support in our efforts to expose the "megahertz myth" through TPI, and we are dedicated to providing a better measure of system performance for an end user's computing experience, said Pat Moorhead, AMD's vice president of customer advocacy. In the end, system performance is what matters most to business and home consumers.
Hardware Vendor Support
Our HP Pavilion and Presario home desktop PCs featuring the AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ are excellent for today's popular gaming applications, productivity and digital media environments, said John Vallie, HP Pavilion CTO Product Manager. The addition of AMD's high-performance processors is another way HP is giving consumers greater choice when building a PC that meets their individual computing needs.
Fujitsu-Siemens and AMD have enjoyed a long and mutually successful partnership, working on behalf of PC users, said Klaus Nicolai, Vice President, Business Unit Consumer at Fujitsu-Siemens. AMD Athlon XP processors complement Fujitsu-Siemens' superior products to provide a rich digital media and entertainment experience for both the home and office.
Availability
Systems featuring the AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ are available today through HP's configure-to-order program on its Compaq Presario 8000Z series home desktop PCs in the United States. Also, the new processor is planned to be available in HP Pavilion 562 series home desktop PCs under the same program, starting June 12.
Desktop PCs based on the AMD Athlon XP processor 2200+ are also available today from Fujitsu-Siemens in Europe.
Intel's past Celerons had been based on the Pentium 3 core. In May however, Intel released the first Celeron to be based on Pentium 4 core, the 1.7 GHz. The 1.8 GHz Celeron continues that trend and according to Intel is going to offer improved performance for economy PC systems.
Information on pricing and availability has not yet been made available from Intel but is expected soon.