Will Shoppers “Chip in” for Sonoma?

Monday, January 24, 2005

It’s official, Intel’s newest development, a Centrino laptop upgrade code-named “Sonoma,” is now available to both corporate users and private consumers. Centrino technology is being updated to offer sharper graphics and other high-performance bells and whistles with its C2 chip. Sonoma’s dual chipset will help boost and make FSB frequency more reliable and efficient. It’s also expected to better integrate and enhance software capabilities for smarter, sleeker-moving laptop screens.

Just when IT departments have successfully installed the latest upgrade to their employees’ laptops, here comes yet another one. Granted, it’s difficult to “Keep up with the Joneses” in any industry, but time and efficiency are priceless commodities these days, particularly in the field of software.

Likewise, firms know they have to stay on the alert as aggressive companies like Intel continually mushroom and expand to offer what they consider better services for the buck.

Serious techies will always want to be on the cutting edge of the latest and the greatest software capabilities on the market, but only time will tell whether Sonoma will deliver.

While pricing hasn’t yet been firmly established for Sonoma laptops, value for money is still possible. This is evident in the new Dell laptop fitted with Sonoma technology, the Dell Inspiron 9200, available at the time of writing (january 2005) for under a thousand dollars.

With the forecast of 150 different Sonoma laptops on store shelves by the summer. It sure looks like Intel is feeling pretty optimistic about this second-generation Centrino; whether or not the “chips will fall” where Intel wants them – in their pockets – is up to laptop shoppers worldwide.

Update! – Sonoma has now been upgraded. Read about Intel’s Napa mobile platform

By Catherine Van Herrin – Laptopical