When you think of graphics, Intel probably isn't the first company that comes to mind, but believe it or not, the CPU maker's graphics market share is higher than both AMD and Nvidia combined. How can that be? It all boils down to integrated graphics, a sector where Intel rules the roost, unlike the discrete graphics market where Nvidia and AMD rule the GPU kingdom.

Yes, a Celeron. Why? For the glory, of course. A devoted overclocker by the name of “TiN” at Xtremelabs claims to have pushed the Intel Celeron-D 347 to an unthinkable 8.20 GHz. This beats the previous record by just 16.8 MHz. Preliminary reports indicate that the CPU did not melt into a pile of slag.

The Asian press got a sneak preview of AMD’s processor roadmap at the launch event for the new Phenom II and Athlon II chips. It’s no secret that AMD has been lagging behind rival Intel, but if the slides are to be believed, AMD could still come back.

The new Core i5 and Core i7 mobile CPUs are already finding their way into some products. Panasonic has announced that the Japanese version of the Toughbook laptops, known there as Lets Note, will be getting some speedy new Nehalem-based processors. The new rugged (and a little ugly) offerings will come in four flavors.

Most netbooks and other ultra-mobile PCs currently run on Intel’s Atom x86 chips, but according to Analytics firm ABI, they shouldn’t get too used to being on top. In a new report, ABI is claiming that ARM-based chips will overtake Intel by 2013. ARM has been pushing for the opportunity to power non-smartphone devices for some time now.

According to news and rumor site Fudzilla, socket 1366 owners won't have to wait too terribly long before being able to step up to six cores, though at $999, the flagship chip won't come cheap.

It looks like the elves in Intel's workshop have been working overtime this holiday season, enough so that the chip maker today officially announced its next generation Atom platform, which includes the first Intel chips to integrate graphics and a memory controller in the CPU.