MMX will go straight to the heart of PC buyers

"We think MMX will take the high-end of the Pentium market very quickly," said Jez Deacon technical director of London-based Carrera Technology. "We'll assess the position at the end of the first quarter but we expect MMX to quickly become entry-level. Even now, the market for below-120MHz Pentiums is saying or dead."

Like other vendors contacted by PCDN, Deacon said he had been "very pleasantly surprised" by MMX performance even on software that has not been enhanced to take advantage of the chip's multimedia instructions. Commenting on reports that MMX could add 10-15 per cent to standard office applications, Deacon said that would be "easy".