No doubt hoping to steal a little of Intel Corp’s Pentium thunder – Pentium news is splattered all over pages two and three inside – Motorola Inc yesterday launched three new 32-bit microprocessors for notebook computers, communications devices and home entertainment systems. Hottest is the Dragon – or 68349, specifically designed for use with handheld communicators running the software being developed by General Magic Inc, and claimed to be 25% more powerful than AT&T Co’s Hobbit, which also runs the General Magic software, and other devices being built into communicators. Motorola will be building its own line of handheld devices around the chip, which costs $28.20 when you order 10,000 or more of the 16MHz version. The second part is a V version of the 68040 for laptop computers: it adds power-saving circuitry designed to double battery life. It is set for volume in second quarter 1994 and is not yet priced. The third part is the 68341, which comes out of Motorola’s alliance with Philips Electronics NV on chips for use in multimedia Compact Disk Interactive systems. Philips currently uses the 68070 chip in its CD-I systems, but the 68341 part is thought to add compression and other features. It is expected to be available in volume in the fourth quarter at $21.65 for 10,000-up.
