Dell is expected to launch new Centrino powered Inspiron and Latitude notebook models that would retail for less than $1200 according to this article at Digitimes.

These two-spindle notebooks, featuring 855GM chipsets, may even see prices fall as low as US$1,000, sources added. Dell is retailing its current Centrino-based Inspiron 600m and Latitude D600 notebooks (featuring 855PM chipsets) at starting prices of US$1,299 to US$1,399.

Some PC makers here believe that Dell is using a low-price strategy to drive the replacement of all notebook product lines with Centrino notebooks no later than the third quarter.

The notebook market is by far one of the healthiest in the whole computer arena at this time. Just a couple of days ago we posted about a $599 Transmeta based notebook from ECS plus the whole Centrino and Athlon Mobile thing going on, things are shaping up quite nice for those planning on getting a notebook this year.