To raise demand for its mobile CPUs amongst notebook developers, chipmaker Intel is expected to dramatically reduce prices of the Mobile Pentium 4 Processor-M (P4-M) in May, lowering price differences between desktop P4 and P4-M processors, with the same clock speeds, to merely US$50-90. The price differences at the moment are about US$200-400. With the recent economic slowdown, low-price notebooks running on desktop processors have moved to the industry forefront. Toshiba, the world’s second-largest notebook company, was one of the first major notebook players to launch notebooks running on desktop PIII processors. Its Satellite 5000 notebook, equipped with the 1.7GHz P4-M, is priced at US$2,499 through retail, while the Satellite 1900 supporting the 1.7GHz desktop P4 is listed at US$1,999. Notebook manufacturers in Taiwan, both first and second-tier, certainly welcome Intel’s new strategy. First-tier companies pointed out that after the price reduction, the P4-M would represent about 20% of a notebook’s cost, compared to the current 40%. Retail prices of notebooks are thus projected to contract on average by US$300.