(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
|
|
| Toshiba, NEC Start Using AMD's K6-2 Microprocessor
|
|
February 4, 1999 (TOKYO) -- NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have launched
new personal computers with x86-compatible chips made by Advanced Micro
Devices Inc. (AMD) of the United States.
|
Intel Corp. still dominates the PC microprocessor market in Japan.
NEC, Japan's largest PC maker, announced a new product line called ValueStar
NX R Series that will run on AMD's K6-2 microprocessor with 3DNow! technology.
This is the first time that NEC will sell personal computers using Intel-compatible
chips in Japan.
The targets for the new K6-2-powered model series are PC users seeking
to replace existing machines.
Also, Toshiba is using an AMD chip called Mobile AMD-K6-2 for the DynaBook
Satellite 2520 A4-size notebook PC, which has been marketed since Jan.
15. It uses a 300MHz chip. The predecessor DynaBook Satellite 2510 uses
a 266MHz Mobile MMX Pentium microprocessor. The choice of the Mobile
AMD K6-2 was made by taking into account price performance, according
to a Toshiba official.
Toshiba said that the DynaBook Satellite 2520 is its top-selling product.
The 2520 has a basic performance that is about 22 percent higher than
that of the conventional 2510 PC. And the 3D graphics processing performance
of the 2520 PC is twice that of the 2510 model due to the 3D Now! instructions,
Toshiba said.
The price of the DynaBook Satellite 2520 series ranges between 248,000
yen and 318,000 yen (US$2,150-US$2,750). Thus, the new 2520 model is
about equal to the conventional 2510 model.
AMD said that Windows PCs using x86-compatible chips accounted for 16
percent of all the Windows PCs delivered in the fourth quarter of 1998.
"The share in Japan also is increasing rapidly, standing at between 15
percent and 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 1998," said Kazuo Sakai,
president of AMD Japan.
Related stories:
� PC, TV to Compete in Future: NEC Exec. VP
� NEC to Buy Notebook PCs from Taiwan's FIC
(BizIT
of BizTech News Dept. and Nikkei
Byte)
<Visit News Center for more Asian news.>
|
|
|
