The new ULV chips could disrupt rival chip maker Advanced Micro Devices' bid for a larger share of the inexpensive ultraportable market. AMD in January launched the Athlon Neo chip for inexpensive ultraportables priced between $500 and $1,500. At the time, AMD criticized the premium pricing of ultraportable laptops that carry Intel's ULV chips, saying users don't have an appetite for expensive ultraportables such as the MacBook Air and that pricing has been a key impediment to the adoption of such laptops.

Intel's Montevina Plus platform also will offer new chips running as fast as 3.06GHz, for mainstream notebooks priced between $399 and $1,499.

Montevina Plus is likely to be Intel's most important update to its laptop platforms before the company starts shipping the new Arrandale chips for laptops later this year. The Arrandale chips will be manufactured using a 32-nanometer process.

Arrandale chips integrate a graphics processor and CPU in one chip, which could boost graphics performance while drawing less power than existing Core 2 processors. Arrandale chips will also be more energy-efficient, which could improve laptop battery life. Clock speeds on Arrandale processors should be similar to chips used in existing laptops, but offer better performance by running applications through more threads while drawing less power.