Mobile Pentium II due to debut

Among companies readying announcements are Gateway 2000 Inc. (GTW), Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ), Dell Computer Corp. (DELL), Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HWP), Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. and Acer America Corp.

The new processor reportedly gives notebooks a 30 to 35 percent speed boost, compared to the Pentium with MMX systems. The speed increase comes at the expense of power consumption, however, with mobile Pentium II processors using about 8 watts of power, compared to 5.3 watts for a 266MHz Pentium-MMX processor.

	Pentium II notebooks boost performance, cut battery life
	Notebook USER: Notebook PC makers line up for mobile Pentium II

The systems offered fall mainly in the $2,800 to $5,000 price range.

Spec list
Toshiba's Tecra 780DVD, with a 266MHz processor, 13.3-inch XGA resolution display, 64MB of RAM, 8.1GB hard drive and DVD-ROM drive, will be priced at about $5,500. Toshiba will also offer a system without the DVD drive.

Digital's HiNote VP 765, which will cost below $4,000, features a 266MHz processor, 13.3-inch XGA-resolution thin-film transistor display, 32MB of RAM, 4GB hard drive and a 24-speed CD-ROM drive, sources said.

Gateway is offering systems with 266MHz and 233MHz versions of the processor. A Solo 9100XL with 266MHz processor, 64MB SDRAM, 14.1-inch TFT XGA display, 5GB hard disk and DVD drive will be priced at $4,699.

On the low end, a Solo 5100SE with 233MHz processor, 32MB SDRAM, 14.1-inch TFT XGA display, 2GB hard disk and 8X/20X CD-ROM drive will be priced at $2,899.

Dell is planning to launch a Pentium II system in both its Latitude CP and Inspiron lines.