Intel's notebook lineup, meanwhile, will see a greater number of changes. A new Pentium M, the processor found in Centrino notebooks, will come out in the third quarter running at 1.7GHz. This chip will contain 1MB of cache. Dothan, the code-name for the next Pentium M, will be released in the fourth quarter, expected at $637. Dothan will differ from existing Pentium Ms in that it will be made on the 90-nanometre manufacturing process. (Pentium Ms are made on the 130-nanometre process, meaning that the average size of features on the chip measures 130 nanometres, or billionths of a metre). Advancing the manufacturing process means that Intel can add more transistors to the chip. As a result, the cache will double to 2MB. By comparison, Intel's top Xeon chip for servers has a 2MB cache and it sells for over $3,000. AMD's top server chip has a 1MB cache. A large cache allows a computer to keep a substantial amount of data close to the processor. If the processor has to snag data out of memory, or the hard drive, performance dips. Rival AMD has chosen to use a smaller cache and ameliorate some of the data access problems in its latest chip through integrating the memory controller or including HyperTransport links. Still, a big cache generally helps speed things up. Dothan is slated to speed up to 1.9GHz in the first quarter of 2004 and 2GHz in the following quarter. Low-voltage and ultra-low-voltage versions of Dothan for even better battery life will emerge at the same time. In the fourth quarter, a 1.2GHz low-voltage Dothan is expected be released followed by a 1.3GHz and a 1GHz ultra-low-voltage version in the first quarter. Celeron chips for the mobile market will also get a cache and speed boost. Mobile Celerons now have a 256KB cache and a 133MHz system bus, which is the path that connects the processor to memory. In the first quarter of 2004, Intel will debut a 1.3GHz mobile Celeron with a 400MHz bus and a 512KB of cache, similar to specifications that, until recently, could be found on the fastest Pentium 4 desktop chips. An 800MHz ultra-low-voltage Celeron will also come out at the same time. Speed bumps for both of these chips will follow in the second quarter. Similarly, the company is expected to increase the speed of the Pentium 4 chips used in notebooks.
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