Tech
One Year Ago: Intel preps PII debut with price cuts
This story first published April 29, 1997
Intel is slicing up to almost half off some processors in order to cut off pretenders to its throne at the pass.
After the arrival of MMX, the vanilla chips get ready to ride off into the sunset and see big falls, presumably to shift stock. The 200MHz Pentium sees the biggest fall, dropping 48 per cent from $498 to $257. The 166MHz Pentium declines 29 per cent, from $295 to $209. Also likely to be on its way out, the 166MHz Pentium Pro with 512K of cache collapses from $627 to $412.
The 200MHz MMX Pentium falls from $539 to $492 while the 166MHz MMX Pentium stumbles from $356 to $270. The mobile-optimised 166MHz MMX goes from $539 to $498.
The changes make room at the top for Intel's Pentium II, due for a UK announcement next week, May 7.