Digitimes reports that Intel is preparing to use some additional price cuts in October to help phase out the stock of the budget-oriented Celeron D CPU's. As these processors are taken off the market, Intel will be replacing them with a single-core variant of the new Core 2 processors. Dubbed Conroe-L, these new processors will be released in the second quarter of 2007. An exciting new product for the value segment will also be the release of the Core 2 Duo E4300 dual-core processor in the first quarter of 2007. The Core 2 Duo E4200 processor which was originally aimed to launch in the fourth quarter of this year will be scrapped in favor of launching the E4300 processor with a healthy 200Mhz jump in core frequency. Although the higher-end markets have been receiving the vast majority of attention with the launch of the Core 2 Duo processors, one can clearly see that Intel is not forgetting about the budget conscious markets as well though they will have wait for their new toys.
"Intel originally planned to position the E4200, which will represent the entry level of its Core 2 Duo CPU family, against AMD's forthcoming Socket-AM2 Athlon 64 X2 3600+ CPU. However, recent tests indicated that the E4200 could hardly outperform the Athlon 64 X2 3600+, prompting Intel to change its roadmap, the sources said, noting that the E4300 CPU will feature a core speed of 1.8GHz, as compared to a core speed of 1.6GHz for the E4200."
Marco Chiappetta
Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com
