Intel's Tim Bailey also promises approximately 230 notebooks from vendors including Acer, Fujitsu, LG, Lenovo and MSI will be available with the new Centrino technology – an increase from the 100 odd notebooks available for the launch of the previous version.

The consumer version (Centrino Duo) and the business version (Centrino Pro) both offer faster front-side bus speeds of 800MHz. Centrino Pro will essentially offer the same capabilities to notebooks that Intel's vPro does for desktop PCs. The consumer version will focus on faster boot and application times with an emphasison high definition audio, video, 3D gaming and other multimedia use.

The new Intel 965 express chipset will support the draft wireless specification 802.11n, which Intel says will offer twice the range and be five times faster. The new Centrino products also claim to offer power savings so battery life will be longer.

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An optional feature Intel is launching is Turbo memory which is basically embedded Nand technology for even faster application loading and booting, with power savings on the hard drive. About a third of the notebooks on offer will have this technology. According to Lenovo's Nigel Gore, the option will add about $100 to the cost of a notebook.

The cost of the technology will be "mainstream", Bailey says, with vendors offering new Centrino notebooks starting from the $1999 price point. One notebook sporting this price tag is the new EX600 from MSI, which uses Intel Core 2 Duo and the new PM965 chipset. It features the latest NVIDIA graphics card, Dolby Home Theater, wireless-n in a Swarovski-crystal decorated chassis.

Bailey also said we can expect notebooks in lots of new form factors with the new Centrino technology - including a nifty new gaming machine from Dell.

See: www.intel.com.au