Intel sticks to tradition

Intel's new name for its next generation of processor is, predictably, the Pentium 4.

The company claims that the chip is based on 'revolutionary technology' that will provide users with better performance, especially on the internet. The chip will be officially available later this summer, but it's unlikely to be widely available in home PCs until later.

Meanwhile, portable computer makers are lining up to use a chip from one of Intel's latest competitors, Transmeta. The Transmeta chip, called Crusoe, isn't strictly compatible with a Pentium, but thanks to clever software built into it, it can behave like one. It's especially attractive for portable computers because it uses much less power than either Intel's or chief rival AMD's offerings.

At the recent PC Expo show in New York, a number of companies, including IBM, exhibited prototypes of notebooks based around the Crusoe chip running Windows. Other firms have said that they'll use it in special 'internet appliances' - cut-down computers designed to provide web and email access.

Gateway will be among the firms making such systems, which will be designed especially to access AOL web pages via a slimmed-down version of the AOL software and the Netscape browser.