Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the leading microprocessor maker for the sub-$1,000 consumer desktop market, continues to inch its way into business products. Later this month, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. will ship an AMD- based notebook to U.S. business users. In January, Toshiba began shipping a notebook with an AMD CPU to the Japanese market.

Toshiba's Satellite 2540CDS will be aimed mainly at small to midsize businesses with up to 500 employees. At $1,699, the 2540CDS will have a 333-MHz K6-2 chip with AMD's 3DNow technology, 32 Mbytes of memory, a 4-Gbyte hard drive, a 13- inch display, and a 56-Kbps modem. Comparable notebooks with Intel chips start at $2,000.

A LAN card is optional with the 2540CDS, and the AMD processor can handle most remote-management capabilities. But many companies prefer the stability of hardware designed around Intel chips. Intel CPUs let vendors use common components, which can simplify maintenance and upgrades.