Buy a Coppermine for Christmas – if you can

Thank goodness we've got a Pentium III with processor serial number intacta (PSNI), otherwise we'd never have been able to visit the Intel WebOutfitter site and see what systems Chipzilla is recommending for the holiday season. Over at WebOutfitter, Intel says you can get information on Pentium III processors you can buy from a broad range of PC customers in the USA and Canada. Some of them, for instance, you can even buy online. Let's start with the letter A, and the Acer site. Here, Intel points us to Pentium III systems using the 100MHz front side bus ("for increased speed") and at clock speeds of up to 600MHz. We'll skip now to Hewlett Packard, which is expected tomorrow to introduce DDR (double data rate) systems using Coppermine processors. Intel's site points us eventually to the Kayak workstation range, which you can find here. HP Kayak workstations in their older form are now obsolete ("out of production") but the XU systems HP is advertising goes up to -- 600MHz Pentium IIIs with 100MHz front side buses. The Gateway page pointed at by Intel is most interesting. This page advertises Intel Pentium IIIs at up to 700MHz, showing that it has stocks of Copperminogate processors, using SDRAM. Onto Dell now. The Great Satan of Hardware is offering a 733MHz Coppermine system with 133MHz front side bus here. This will cost you $3,078.00, a damn sight cheaper than the $103,000 Dell was selling a workstation with a 600MHz processor for last Friday. And, blow us down, you can also buy the system with 128MB of PC700 RDRAM at 356MHz if you're prepared to wait an estimated 30 days. (Is this the Gregorian calendar Christmas we're working with, Ed.) What about The Big Q? The page Intel points to, here, has Deskpros and Presarios for sale, with a Deskpro EN using the BX chipset at clock speeds of up to 733MHz using the i810e chipset. The Presarios 5716 uses a Pentium III at speeds of up to 450MHz, but don't forget Q is also selling Athlon systems too. Big Blue's Intel pointer lands here, where you can buy machines using Pentium III 600s, using the 100MHz system bus in the IBM PC 300 series. Alternatively, you can buy an Aptiva, described as ideal for "avid PC users", using 450MHz and 500MHz Pentium IIIs. Toshiba America, whose pointed Intel page is here, offers Equium 7100 desktops with Pentium III Coppermine 700s, as part of its range. Lastly, but nevertheless not leastly, go to the Everex site Intel points to, and you'll see that the Formosa subsidiary, which is the subject of Chipzillalitigation because it's somehow connected with Via Technologies, is offering machines using Pentium II/III processors up to 500MHz. So there's obviously no shortage of Coppermine processors or of systems offering RIMMs from Rambus Ink in the run up to Yule. ®