Intel's Pentium M mobile processor is finally starting
to gain ground against older mobile technologies in
the US, 18 months after it was introduced to rave
reviews, according to recent data from Current
Analysis.
Notebooks containing the Pentium M accounted for 23% of all
notebooks sold at retail in the US in October, said Sam Bhavnani,
an analyst with Current Analysis.
Larger desktop replacement notebooks with Intel's Mobile Pentium
4 processor still make up the largest category of notebooks, but
price cuts on the Pentium M have allowed retailers to offer thin
and light notebooks at attractive prices, he said.
The Pentium M processor was introduced in March of 2003. It was
Intel's first attempt at building a processor specifically for a
mobile environment, and combined aspects of its Pentium III and
Pentium 4 processors to create a high-performance chip that
consumed much less power than the Pentium 4-based processors Intel
had been recommending for notebooks at the time.
Business customers were the first targets for the processor,
which shipped with a mobile chipset and an 802.11 wireless chip as
the Centrino platform. Initial testers and users were pleased by
the desktop-like performance and extended battery life enabled by
the Pentium M, but consumers were slower to catch onto the benefits
of the processor.
Part of that was because Intel did not spend as much time in
2003 educating consumers about the benefits of the Pentium M,
Bhavnani said.
One of the key aspects of the processor was that it ran at much
slower clock speeds than Pentium 4 processors but delivered
comparable performance. However, consumers had been conditioned by
years of Intel marketing messages that faster clock speeds equaled
higher performance, he said.
For the past two years, consumers have been infatuated with
larger desktop replacement notebooks that offer large screens and
powerful performance. This is not the type of notebook that is
suitable for a business trip, but is fine for customers who never
take the notebook out of their homes or too far from a wall
socket.
In September, that trend showed no signs of abating, at least
among US customers. Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard introduced heavier
notebooks with widescreen displays in recent weeks to focus on
users looking for multimedia PCs.
This phenomenon is mostly confined to the US market. Consumers
in Europe and Asia prefer smaller notebooks and sales of Pentium M
notebooks are more robust in those areas, according to Intel.
Intel reversed its clock speed strategy in 2004, adopting a
power-conscious design philosophy and introducing a new processor
numbering system to communicate the relative performance of its
chips. The company's consumer push started in earnest with the new
numbering system, Bhavnani said.
Education is an important part of any company's marketing
strategy, but so is price, Bhavnani said. One of the main reasons
behind the uptake in Pentium M notebooks is the price cuts that
Intel has put into place, allowing manufacturers to build thin and
light notebooks - systems weighing less than 6lbs - at prices
approaching $1,000, he said.
Intel's October price cuts on the Pentium M are starting to
trickle through to the customer, paving the way for thin and light
notebooks at prices that were previously reserved only for bulky
notebooks, Bhavnani said.
Current Analysis' figures do not take into account sales by
Dell, the world's largest PC suppliers. Dell does not sell PCs
through retail channels. All of Dell's Latitude business notebooks
use the Pentium M chip, while half of the eight notebooks on Dell's
consumer web page are available with the Pentium M.
Tom Krazit writes for IDG News Service