Even considering Chipzilla's legendary insensitivity to public opinion, you'd have thought someone at the compnay would have noticed that this week is probably not the most apposite time to be introducing a new motherboard.

Even as truckloads of dead Cape Cods arrive back at Satan Clara, Intel is shamelessly pushing its latest baby, the FlexATX D810EMO. Using the 810E chipset which has AGP graphics, SoundBlaster 128 audio and LAN connectivity built in, the dinky 7.5in x 9in mobo is obviously intended to find a home in sleeker, smaller chassis designs.

With four USB ports (good), the D810EMO supports 370-pin PGA Celeron and Pentium III processors at 66, 100 and 133MHz frontside bus, but only sports a single DIMM slot (bad).

The mobo is shipping to disties now and carries a price tag of $145. ®