News

'Tis the Season for Notebook PCs; Notebooks as Popular as TVs This Season (16/12/2004)

While some time-honored holiday traditions never change, the 2004 holiday season is increasingly going digital with notebooks amongst this season's brightest sellers.

According to consumer retail figures from The NPD Group, notebooks are becoming as popular as TVs. During "Black Friday," the name retailers give for the day after Thanksgiving, consumer notebook sales exceeded the sales of all types of TVs.(1) Analyst firm Gartner expects both U.S. and worldwide fourth quarter consumer notebook shipments to be up almost 22 percent each over 2003.(2)

Technology gifts are certainly top of mind with holiday gift givers. Seventy-six percent of Americans plan to give a tech gift these holidays, according to this year's Best Buy Holiday Trend Index.(3)

Key factors gift givers are seeking in tech products are personalization, mobility and the ability to connect with other products as well as with friends and family. Fitting the bill, Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology-based notebooks are morphing into all-purpose entertainment devices you can take anywhere with entertainment features such as widescreens, TV tuners, personal video recording capabilities and remote controls.

Laptops are also gaining popularity thanks to the growing availability of wireless Internet access** -- or "Wi-Fi" -- which allows Wi-Fi equipped laptops to connect to the Internet wirelessly at home, work and public hotspots. More than 43,000 hotspots worldwide are verified for interoperability with Intel Centrino mobile technology. Notebooks with Intel Centrino mobile technology have Wi-Fi capability built in, and deliver breakthrough mobile performance while enabling great battery life in lighter, easier-to-carry notebook PCs. Some models of Intel Centrino mobile technology-based notebooks are available for under $1,000.

Holiday shoppers can get great deals on laptop PCs with such special offers as CompUSA's Mobile Entertainment Starter Kit. Shoppers purchasing an Intel Centrino mobile technology-based notebook at any CompUSA store until Jan. 31 will receive the kit which includes a free trial of Real Network's Rhapsody* premium music service, free downloadable audio books and magazines, six months of free file sharing service, a discount for Movielink* online movies and more.

Consumers will also get a chance to preview soon-to-be-released laptop PCs with next-generation Intel Centrino mobile technology (codenamed Sonoma) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 6-9.

Notes

1) Source: The NPD Group/NPD Techworld, "How green was Black Friday 2004?" Analyst Report.

2) Source: Gartner's Global PC Forecast and Shipments Quarterly Statistics-Database Dec. 3, 2004.

3) Source: 2004 Best Buy Holiday Trend Index, a survey conducted by Click IQ, which polled a representative sample of 1,595 people ages 15 to 55, and has a margin of error of +/- 2 percent.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Intel and Intel Centrino are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

** Wireless connectivity and some features may require you to purchase additional software, services or external hardware. Availability of public wireless LAN access points limited. System performance measured by MobileMark* 2002. System performance, battery life, wireless performance and functionality will vary depending on your specific hardware and software configurations.

www.intel.com