I only recently read that Intel changed attributes of the Pentium 3 three times or so during it's life. I entered the real laptop realm only this year with Dell's 5 year old C600 on up series, and that uses a 550 to 700 Speedstep on up to 1GHz.
When I bought older used desktops over the past year, I found I was limited to Pentium 3s stopping at 333 (This is in fact a Pentium 2, Slot 1 CPU that should expand to 450Mhz top speed but was capped at 333 and ran a 300 supplied chip) and 550Mhz on the same sockets, socket 1 and 370 motherboards. What exactly accounts for this, the chip?, or perhaps BIOS? A couple computers I took on use Pheonix BIOS chips and I saved these under the impression some boards could upgrade using them, two were native to an Acer desktop and a Amptron, etc. Bk630e bookPC that seems to have failed.
Another interesting factoid is Intel's site states Speedsteps start at 600Mhz on up, my Dell's chip clearly states that is false, even though reported on Intel's site, I would say they have incorrect data listed. The 550, mind you, is the slow battery saving state of the Speedstep and 700 on up has always been fine with video applications I have used since I bought my first eMachine. The Dell C610 laptop has expanded hardware attributes and runs a 1.2GHz Mobile Pentium, I think this is the mobile form of Tualatin, I presume the last and best Pentium 3 chip series?
The Tualatins are priced high still and I have been trying to find a good home for a 1.3 chip I bought, so far, nada.
Did the Tualatin stop at 1.4GHz, where P4s started? I read the P4s early debut couldn't compete with the last Pentium 3s which speak highly for the possible extended use of these older chips for a few years to come. I find even under 1GHz, many apps run just fine, the ones I use alot.
BILL