Features

SUNNYVALE – Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is introducing new chips in a move to catch up with rival Intel Corp. in the mobile computer market. 

AMD will announce Monday new Athlon and Duron mobile processors that are faster, more powerful and less of a battery drain than their earlier versions. The Sunnyvale-based chipmaker also claims the processors outperform those of Intel, which have dominated the laptop market. 

“AMD PowerNow! technology not only makes notebooks run cooler and quieter, it offers extended battery life and up to 50 percent more performance than the competition’s offering,” said Pat Moorhead, vice president of desktop and mobile marketing for AMD’s Computation Products Group. 

The debate over performance, however, rages constantly in the industry. 

Developing power-efficient microprocessors has become a high-stakes competition in the fast-growing segment of notebook computers, which is projected to triple to 30 million units in the United States by the year 2005. 

Intel introduced the first 1-gigahertz chip for mobile computers — a Pentium III with Intel’s so-called power-saving SpeedStep technology — in March. 

The top of AMD’s new mobile lineup is the Athlon 4, a 1-gigahertz chip, targeted for the high-performance market. The fastest of the new mobile Duron chips, which are billed as bargain alternatives to Athlon chips, runs at 850-megahertz.