PC chips due in the next few weeks will give a boost to laptops as well as workstation and server systems.

Transmeta has announced that in September it will launch the successor to its Crusoe range of chips that are power-optimised for mobile products.

And AMD is preparing to ship a faster version of its Opteron 64bit chip for dual-processor systems.

Transmeta will introduce its TM8000 Astro in September, the firm said last week, and systems based on the mobile processor are expected by the end of the year.

The TM8000 will be able to match or outperform Intel's Pentium M processor, according to Transmeta, which forms the heart of Centrino laptops.

"The TM8000 is the next step forward in efficient computing," said Transmeta president and chief executive Matthew Perry.

The chip will feature an improved version of Transmeta's code morphing technology, an emulation layer that lets a Transmeta chip run Windows applications even though its underlying architecture is radically different from an Intel processor.

It will also be capable of executing up to eight instructions per clock cycle, compared with only four in most competing processor architectures.

However, while Transmeta makes much of its chip's ability to do more work per clock cycle, the current Crusoe line failed to deliver enough power to interest buyers in Europe and the US, although the firm has enjoyed success in laptop models in the Far East.

AMD is next week expected to update its Opteron range of 64bit processors for workstations and servers.

The firm will introduce a faster 2GHz version of its Opteron 200 for dual-processor systems, according to documents released earlier this month.

Expected to be called Opteron 246, the new chip will join the Opteron 244, 242 and 240 chips clocked at 1.8GHz, 1.6GHz and 1.4GHz, respectively.

The firm is also readying its Athlon 64 and 64-M chips for single-processor desktops and laptops in September.

Like AMD's Opteron family, the Athlon 64 chips will be able to run existing Windows applications as well as future 64bit software.