July 30, 2001

The low price trend in the PC market has brought notebook computers with desktop CPUs to the industry forefront, according to local reports. Taiwan manufacturers such as Acer., Asustek Computer, Compal and Clevo will launch their own desktop CPU notebooks when Intel's 1.2 GHz Celeron and 2 GHz Pentium 4 desktop processors hit the market.

Desktop CPU notebooks achieved their popularity at the end of 2000, when manufacturers decided to use low-price strategies to stimulate demand.

To maximize profit, many distributors order notebooks with the low-end Mobile Celeron CPUs, and then modify the product by switching to the high-end Pentium III desktop CPUs. By doing so, the distributors are able to sell the notebooks at a higher price.

The price of 1 GHz notebook CPUs is about US$ 300 higher that that of desktop CPUs running at the same clock speed. When the products reach the hands of the consumers, the price difference could increase to US$ 400. -

To grab a piece of the pie, Taiwan notebook makers are aggressively developing desktop CPU notebooks based on Intels's Mobile Tualatin and 1.7 GHz desktop Pentium 4. When Intel launches 1.2 GHz Celeron and 2 GHZ desktop CPUs in October, the manufacturers expect to quickly introduce their own notebooks after minor modifications to their designs. The new notebooks will replace the existing models running on Pentium III CPUs.