Pentium 4 and DVD shortages

Demand is still outpacing the available supply of Pentium 4 processors and DVD drives, say computer makers. While the lower-speed Pentium 4 chips are attainable, Intel simply doesn’t have the resources to manufacture sufficient quantities of faster versions of that processor. The lack of faster chips is having a domino effect on the rest of the hardware industry; sales are down because PC makers can’t build the systems their customers want, and that is forcing builders to reduce their orders for motherboards, graphics cards, and hard drives. Full story at The Register. We’re not sure what the deal is with the DVD drive shortage, but the lack of available drives is fast becoming an annual holiday tradition. Last year’s DVD shortage threw a monkey wrench into Sony’s PlayStation 2 launch.