Intel pushes new mini motherboards

Chipmaker Intel Wednesday launched two new motherboards suited to net tops and small form factor desktops at its annual partner conference on the Gold Coast. One of the boards, the D945GSEJT (codenamed Johnstown), featuring the 45nm Intel Atom processor and Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset, will only be available for system integrators and channel original equipment manufacturers. The board adds extra features--such as fan less passive cooling, VGA and DVI dual graphics, wireless connectivity via the PCI express mini card slot and a horizontal SO-DIMM leading to a total motherboard height of 20mm. These features, however, come at a higher price which has led Intel to believe that the broader channel would use the company's other cheaper boards. Those who buy it would have to build a custom board for their own needs, according to Norman Cheng, product line manager within Intel's desktop group. Johnstown will be available towards the end of the first half of this year. The second board, the DG41MJ (codenamed Misty Lake), was expected to have wider appeal and will be available to the broader channel. The board is intended for small form factor PCs for home entertainment and daily computing. Misty Lake was Intel's answer to requests to make a cheaper version of its other options. The small board, which supports Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors, has legacy features such as a parallel port, integrated VGA and DVI, Intel High Definition Audio and an integrated 10/100/1000 network connection. The board is now available for PC manufacturers and system builders to order from Intel distributors. The company was unable to say when it would be more broadly available at the time of publication.