Prescott Shortage Forces Retail Changes

Tight supplies for Intels Prescott, the latest version of the Pentium 4 processor, have forced system manufacturers to change their offerings.

New processors are generally always in tight supply. Still, the fact that Dell and also Hewlett-Packard are having trouble getting an adequate number of the Prescott Pentium 4s more than two months after the chip’s introduction suggests one of two things: Intel is either taking longer than expected to bump up production, or demand is too high to fill orders in a timely manner with the limited supply of chips available.

Intel has yet to make its 3.4GHz Prescott Pentium 4 processor available in large volumes, despite promising it for the end of the first quarter. That may indicate that the chipmaker is having some problems. Neither Dell nor HP is offering that chip, the companies report, forcing them to offer the 3.4GHz Northwood Pentium 4 instead.

Read more at CNET News.com.