Mobile Pentium 4 prices will come tumbling down in May, according to Digitimes.
In 1K tray quantities, the 1.6GHz and 1.7GHz P4-M processors cost US$401 and US$508. In May, Intel could (our italics) reduce prices to c.US$210 and US$250, Digitimes says. Currently the 1.6GHz and 1.7GHz desktop P4s US$133 and US$163, also for 1,000 units.
The upshot is that the P4-M will cost only $50-$90 more than its desktop equivalent, compared with the current price premium of $200-$400, and that the CPU will account for just 20 per cent of the production cost of the notebook, against 40 per cent now, and will see end-user prices fall by as much as $300.
The prices may halt the move by notebook makers, such as Toshiba and Asustek to incorporate desktop P4s in their machines.
Intel does not recommend this - but then its newest desktop P4s run fairly cool, and are suitable enough for people who use their laptop mostly as a desktop replacement i.e. plugged into the mains 99 per cent of the time.
News source: The Register - Mobile P4 prices 'to drop dramatically'
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