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Having embarked on what it describes as its biggest product launch for ten years, chip giant Intel is looking to a ‘new era of processing power’, in line with the changing way the world is using computers and consumer electronics.
The firm officially launched the new 2010 Core family of chips in the UK last month at a special event in London, in which it laid out the technological benefits of the new products over predecessor Pentium.
The entire portfolio is designed to meet the growing desire consumers have for online media, provide massively increased on-board graphics capabilities, and help retailers and manufacturers combat an ever more commoditised PC market by making more margin.
“We have designed our roadmap to address all of the system price points, which is an unprecedented approach,” said Dan Belton, retail director at Intel. “It’s massively important for us, and the biggest launch in ten years. It’s fantastically exciting, not just for us, but also for the industry.
"There’s now a great opportunity for retailers and OEMs to really start addressing customers’ needs and deliver products that have an absolute value that will start pushing system price points up, beyond the commoditised pricing that we’ve been seeing for a while.
“It’s becoming increasingly hard to ensure that value is demonstrable in store, but here’s a set of products that really drive that value. There’s absolute benefit throughout the supply chains, for the OEMs, for the retailers, and for the end consumer, based on their voracious appetite for the use of media.”
The new products in the 2010 Intel Core family also have a much higher focus on high-end graphics, which the firm says will reduce the need for discrete graphics cards on many systems.
“We are delivering, in most cases, strong graphical capability for high definition playback and high definition audio and, in some cases, high quality graphics for gaming as well,” added Belton. “It is our position that in most cases for home use, with Intel graphics on-board, the chip gives a really high quality playback.”
The fact that this is the first major product launch to address all price points at once has boosted the industry’s eagerness for the range. “Demand is outstripping our ability to supply, but we’re expecting to be right on target for our goals for the year,” said Belton.
