Computex to highlight latest in laptops, gadgets

One of the world's biggest IT trade shows will throw open its doors in Taiwan next week, showcasing new laptop processors from the world's two biggest chip makers, as well as a raft of new devices for the digital home.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is expected to polish up its Formula 1 racing car again to showcase the latest Scuderia Ferrari notebook from Acer. Powered by an AMD Turion 64-bit processor, the notebook answers a challenge by Taiwanese rival Asustek Computer, which released a Lamborghini notebook earlier this year running on a dual-core Pentium M chip from Intel.

The two chip makers will also square off in the digital home. Entertainment PCs based on AMD's Live platform, for sharing video and music throughout the home, will be out on Thursday, AMD said. Taiwanese firms will be showing Live systems at Computex, as well as products like digital set-top boxes and LCD TVs based on Intel's Viiv platform.

There should also be motherboards and other hardware from Taiwan's huge component industry that support new AMD processors that work with DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) memory chips. And Intel may choose Computex to launch a dual-core version of its Itanium 2 server processor, dubbed Montecino, which it has said would be available the middle of this year.

The two chip makers won't steal all of the limelight. New ultraportable PCs based on Microsoft's Origami platform are expected to be shown, as well as high definition TVs and gadgets for watching TV on the go. There will also be new product announcements from Via Technologies Inc. and other companies.

Computex runs from June 6 to June 10. Now in its 26th year, it will be hoping to break its attendance record of nearly 130,000 visitors. That figure puts Computex behind some other major shows, including Germany's Cebit, which drew around 450,000 in March, Japan's Ceatec, which drew just shy of 200,000 last October, and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which hosted 152,000 visitors in January.

But Computex visitors can see products at the show that they can own by the end of the year. That's one of the things that makes Computex different from Cebit or CES -- it doesn't try to look too far into the future. Most of what's on show is ready to manufacture or will be in stores soon, making it a computer enthusiast's paradise.

The show will probably also stir the usual controversy from the guerilla marketing tactics companies use, like the incident a few years ago in which some Intel representatives were accused of popping Via's marketing balloons. Last year, graphics chip makers Nvidia and ATi Technologies went head to head by dressing an army of college students in their company colors. From beautiful booth attendants to glitzy stage shows, vendors go all out to spread their message at Computex.