Micron Technology, a leading maker of memory chips and modules, this week said it plans to make 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs for mobile computers and small form-factor systems. Two of such devices will enable notebooks or small systems with 8GB of memory, the amount that is not even used on the desktop market nowadays.

“With our new 4 GB DDR3 modules, we are allowing users to easily take advantage of the performance benefits that increased memory provides,” said Brian Shirley, vice president of Micron’s memory group.

The new 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs from Micron are based on 2Gb memory chips; clock-speed and latency settings of the forthcoming memory modules are unknown, though, usually high-capacity memory chips cannot run at similar speeds with low-capacity chips designed for high-speed operation.

Micron positions its DDR3 SO-DIMM products for Intel Centrino 2-based notebooks due in mid-2008. It should be noted that it is unclear whether Intel GM45 and PM45 chipsets actually support memory configurations which capacity is higher than 4GB. Current-generation Intel PM965 core-logic does not support over 4GB of memory, however, all contemporary performance-mainstream and high-end chipsets on the desktop market, including Intel P35, X38 and X48, support 8GB of memory.

In order to take advantage of more than 4GB of random access memory, end-users will have to utilize a 64-bit operating system, e.g., Microsoft Windows XP x64, Microsoft Windows Vista x64 or appropriate Linux versions.

Micro DDR3 SO-DIMM 4GB modules expected to be in mass production in Q2 2008.