SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) — Intel Corp., the world's largest computer-chip maker, began selling a faster processor designed to attract computer gamers to portable machines.The Core 2 Extreme mobile processor is 28 percent faster than the previous top-of-the-line model, the Santa Clara, California-based company said yesterday in a statement. The chips cost $851 each when bought in quantities of 1,000.

Intel is trying to fuel laptop sales, which are outstripping the desktop market. Laptop shipments may jump 27 percent this year, compared with a 2.4 percent gain for desktops, according to Gartner Inc. The mobile processor that went on sale today is the first model to carry the Extreme brand, previously reserved for Intel's fastest desktop chips.