600MHz processors have arrived in the country, with distributor Axiz saying it has stock of the new Pentium III chips. The new 500MHz Celeron chip is also available.
"We have stock of these products in our warehouse and are ready to take orders from resellers," says Alex Morse, processor product manager at Axiz. The company expects corporate customers and various early adopters to be the main market focus.
The PIII 600 is designed for rich multimedia and probably will not find its way to the average office desktop soon, with an estimated street price of R6 350. However, applications like video conferencing could see it break into the market. High-end graphics specialists like SGI and Intergraph are leading the charge with their power systems, but the consumer market is expected to opt for the Celeron. The 500MHz should sell for R1 500.
The two chips have beaten the AMD Athlon chip (formerly called the K7) to the market by scant weeks. AMD, traditionally a player in the value segment, is reportedly expecting fierce competition from the Celeron invading its market space.
According to the Intel roadmap the i820 "Camino" chip will be released in early September, preceded by price cuts on 22 August. An improved PIII with integrated secondary cache memory, named "Coppermine", is expected to follow in November.
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