MMX chips will drive DVD

Intel (INTC) is delivering the first in what will be a long line of MMX processors and many top PC vendors have already announced plans to use the chip in new systems, including those with DVD drives.

MMX technology, combined with other new fundamental enhancements to the new Pentiums, should enhance performance of multimedia functions such as graphics and communications, compared to traditional or "classic" Pentium processors.

Initially, the other enhancements to the chip--not the pure MMX technology--will set it apart from classic Pentiums. These hardware improvements include more built-in memory, referred to as cache, and tweaks to allow more efficient processing. More cache speeds up processing. These basic improvements should speed up processing between 10 and 20 percent over classic Pentiums.

For applications which have been specifically written to take advantage of MMX, Intel is claiming a 60-percent performance improvement on "media-rich" programs over classic Pentiums, but this performance improvement can vary significantly depending on the application.

However, there is currently little business software available commerically that has been rewritten to take advantage of MMX.

"It's a chicken and egg thing. There's going to be an incubation period for applications," said Craig Barrett, Intel's chief operating officer. "We'll see more applications over the next 12 months," he added.

"Within the next 120 days you should see more business apps," said a marketing executive at a major notebook PC manufacturer. "Right now, it's primarily video conferencing for business and then gaming," he added.

Some analysts are pessimistic about the prospects of a swell of business applications being written for MMX. "MMX is pretty much irrelevant to business," said Martin Reynolds, an analyst at Dataquest, a San Jose, Calif.-based market research firm.

But companies such as Motorola and Netscape will offer products with potential business application. Motorola will come out with an MMX-based software modem and Netscape's Live3D 2.0 plug-in for Netscape Navigator will use MMX to give users the capability to view more complex 3D images on the Net.

Also, Intel has rewritten applications such as the Intel Video Phone to take advantage of MMX for better compression and decompression of the video signal and smoother, clearer video.

Gaming and entertainment, however, is where most of the development and commercial-product activity is taking place right now.

The bottom line for MMX is improved performance and the fact that all Intel processors from here on out will be MMX based. Therefore, vendors are lining up to bring out new systems.

The chart below shows entry-level models in both business and consumer product lines; most of the companies shown also offer 200-MHz models:

Company/ Model	Speed	Memory	Hard drive	Price
Hewlett- Packard 7320	166-MHz	16 MB EDO	2.1 GB	$1,799
Toshiba Infinia 7220	200-MHz	32 MB EDO	3.73 GB	NA
Gateway 2000 Destination D5-166	166-MHz	32 MB	2.5 GB	$2,999 (1)
Gateway 2000 P5-200FPC	200-MHz	32MB SDRAM	2.5 GB	$2,469 (2)
AST Advantage 9318	166-MHz	24 MB	1.6 GB	$1,799
Dell Dimension XPS M	166-MHz	32MB SDRAM	3.2 GB	$2,199 (2)
Dell Optiplex G	166-MHz	16MB EDO	1GB	$1,902 (2)
Compaq Presario 4764	166-MHz	24MB SDRAM	2.1 GB	$1,899
Compaq Presario 8760	166-MHz	32MB SDRAM	2.5 GB	$1,999
IBM Aptiva S80	166-MHz	32 MB	NA	$2,399
Sony VAIO PCV-100	166-MHz	32 MB EDO	2.5 GB	$1,999