Intel Corp. will throw its weight behind Centrino, the mobile-computing brand that encompasses the Pentium M processor, a companion chip set and wireless networking capability. Competing wireless vendors are pressuring notebook OEMs to dump Centrino's wireless component because its 802.11b compliance means it offers raw data rates up to 11 Mbits/second. Better to go with their 802.11g mini-PCI cards, they say, with data rates up to 54 Mbits/s on the same 2.4-GHz band.

Centrino will surely support 802.11g one day. But word is that won't happen before year's end. The 54-Mbit/s suppliers, on the other hand, will have products on store shelves. Indeed, some have been there for months, although none, so far, has been certified as interoperable. The Wi-Fi Alliance is furiously testing for that right now, and it should happen in time for the 4Q selling season.

So the battle lines are being drawn: Intel, with Centrino and its 11-Mbit/s wireless solution, and the others, with 54-Mbit/s wireless. Who's going to win?

It's certainly shaping up that way on the wireless shelf. The pre-g 54-Mbit/s access points and PC add-ins are selling well against 802.11b. They will sell even better with the Wi-Fi Alliance's interoperable seal on the box. In fact, TechKnowledge forecasts crossover to 802.11g chip sets from 802.11b by year's end.

But in the new notebooks, wireless data rate is but one in a laundry list of specs-and there is a lot to love about the other components in the Centrino brand. With the marketing money Intel pours into brand awareness, it's possible that the lower data rate will fall below the noise level.

Still, there's no denying that Intel would have made it much easier on itself if it had 802.11g ready in time. Because, as Intel has taught buyers time and again, bigger is better.

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies Inc., a market research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., that focuses on components for mobile systems. Reach him at mike@techknowledge-group.com.