Intel Planning Pre-Nehalem Price Cuts
The word on the streets of Taipei is that Intel is planning what could very well be the pre-Nehalem price cuts on existing and upcoming Core 2-based products. The current plan is to reduce prices in the third quarter and add a few more CPUs just to firm-up the low and mid-range. This could very well be a sign that we can expect a very strong launch from Nehalem, but we’ll continue to keep our fingers crossed just in case.
“The Core 2 Quad 9450, currently priced at US$316, will be phased out of the market to be replaced by the Core 2 Quad 9400 at 2.66GHz and a price of US$266. The Core 2 Quad Q9300 and Q6700 will both be phased out at the same time too, leaving the Q6600 as the only 65nm quad-core CPU left in Intel's lineup, and which will drop from US$224 to US$203.
For dual-core CPUs, Intel will launch the Core 2 Duo E8600 at 3.33GHz and US$266, and will phase out the Core 2 Duo E8300. The company will also drop pricing for the Core 2 Duo E8500 and E8400 from US$266 and US$183 to US$183 and US$163, respectively.
Intel will also add the Core 2 Duo E7300 at 2.66GHz and US$133 to its entry-level line and to drop the price of its Core 2 Duo E7200 from US$133 to US$113.”