Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has announced the availability of its K6-2 range of processors for mobile computers. The Mobile AMD K6-2 comes with a top clock speed of 333-MHz, and will also be available in 300- and 266-MHz versions. All the chips will support existing Socket7 notebook designs, and will be compatible with the existing AMD Super7 motherboard. Like all of AMD’s chips, the latest mobile family will utilize AMD’s 3DNow! graphics instruction set. AMD hope sales of the new chips will build on last quarter’s 28.6% increase in revenue, announced Wednesday, which still failed to live up to many analysts’ predictions. Toshiba Inc has already announced it will use the 300-MHz chip in its Satellite 2520 portables sold in Japan, replacing the Pentium MMZ processors used in earlier systems. AMD promises more OEM announcements to come, but no names have been disclosed. The company also says it has yet to see any significant impact from Intel Corp’s push for its low-end Celeron processor. Speaking on the quarterly earnings conference call, chief executive Jerry Sanders insisted that – even as Intel stepped up its Celeron campaign in December – AMD’s share of the market actually improved. While AMD normally prices its chips 25% below the Pentium II, the aggressive marketing of Celeron has left some of its prices above the comparable Intel part. AMD has reacted to that situation by matching Celeron price-for-price and the company figures that will be enough. Sanders explained that, although he takes the Celeron threat seriously, AMD is confident about its chances, mainly because of the K6-2’s 100-MHz bus and 3Dnow technology. The party line is that, for the same price, OEMs and consumers will be drawn to the K6. The results should be in soon enough, though, as Intel is set to launch new versions of the Celeron later this month, as well as new mobile Pentium II chips.
