Chip journalists at both The Register and the Inquirer anticipate that Intel Corp. will move its price slashing schedule up to counter Advanced Micro Device's perceived price performance advantage. If correct, the previously reported one-week stay at $776 for the new 1.7GHz Pentium 4 will disappear in favor of a dramatic launch with prices between $350 and $360 per part.

Jack Robertson of EBNews comments that a price war between Intel and AMD seems to be a foregone conclusion with margins for the two chip manufacturers dropping precipitously in an effort to maintain market share.

For more information, read theregister.co.uk and theinquirer.net. The Robertson article is at ebnews.com.