Can't wait for 'Conroe', Intel's attempt to create a desktop CPU based on Pentium M technology? Then look to Japan's Hitachi, which said this week it will offer desktop PCs based on the mobile processor.

The HF-W2000 mini-tower and HF-W6500 desktop are based on the 1.6GHz Pentium M, and ship with up to 2GB of DDR SDRAM on ECC DIMMs. Both ship with an 80GB hard drive, floppy drive and a CD-ROM optical units. Clearly pitched at corporates, they come with a wide array of legacy ports, including ISA add-in slots.

More up-to-date features include USB ports and integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet.

Hitachi didn't say how much either machine will cost. And while they will ship in Japan, it seems unlikely they will be made more broadly available.

Conroe, meanwhile, is being developed by the Israeli team behind the first Pentium M, 'Banias', and its 90nm successor, 'Dothan'. It is expected to feature 4MB of cache, a feat made possible by the use of a 65nm fabrication process, and to include all the technologies Intel has been touting of late, including HyperThreading, the Vanderpool virtualisation system - allowing the chip to run multiple OSes simultaneously - LaGrande security features and, of course, Intel's 64-bit Extended Memory system.

Conroe is roadmapped to appear in 2006. ®

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