Tom Krazit

The worldwide PC market finished 2004 on a strong note, with double-digit percentage growth for the year, according to research released Tuesday by IDC and Gartner Inc. But growth will slow in 2005 as consumers pull back from their frantic purchasing of the last few years, the companies said.

A source close to AMD said the conference would take place in the second quarter, right around the time that Microsoft Corp. is expected to finally release a 64-bit production version of the Windows operating system that works with AMD's 64-bit desktop processors.

Intel Corp. drew the curtain Friday on some of its future research projects to continue making transistors smaller, faster, and less power-hungry out as far as 2020.

iPod a big succes, but Apple is also trying to keep up with demand for its products while other PC companies that use processors from Intel Corp. are having to deal with excess inventory.

Dell Inc. updated its line of slim consumer Dimension desktop PCs Tuesday with a multiformat expansion card reader, the first time such a feature has appeared in a Dell PC, a company spokesman said.

Toshiba Corp.'s new desktop-replacement multimedia notebooks, introduced on Tuesday, are further evidence that U.S. consumers still have yet to embrace the mobility offered by Intel Corp.'s newer mobile processors.

Intel Corp. outlined its plans for a dual-core mobile processor and platform technology Wednesday, but declined to provide any details about the dual-core future of its flagship Pentium 4 desktop processor.

Dell Inc. added a splash of colour to its laser printer lineup Wednesday with three new models for businesses and home-office users.