Intel Archive

Some of the big news coming out of the CES show in Las Vegas yesterday was Intel’s announcement about their new line of processors with a code name of Sandy Bridge. These processors will actually be called the next generation of Core processors to consumers when they hit shelves this week. I don’t know about you but I find shopping for a processor much like buying a mattress. It’s nearly impossible to easily figure out the the differences in the levels and figure out which is the latest and which is a much older model. I’ve noticed several times where the home shopping channels (i.e. QVC & HSN) sell “dual core” processors which sound super new and fancy but are actually several years old.

It appears the key to making sure you are buying the new Core Sandy Bridge processor is to make sure the product number has four digits. For example, “Intel Core i5 2400 Processor” is one of the new processors in the Intel Sandy Bridge lineup. Computerworld and Tom’s Hardware have good, in-depth reviews of the new processors. If you like graphs and tests using the latest version of Quake or Doom, Tom’s is the place to go.

If you want to be the first on your block or in your Twitter stream to own one of the new Intel processors, here are some options for places to purchase the chip. My guess is that we won’t see lines like we see with anything Apple releases.

MicroCenter will be offering the processors starting on January 9th and is offering a number of in-store only deals. It looks like the pricing after the discounts will range from $149 for the Intel Core i5 2400 to $279 for the Intel Core i7 2600K Unlocked processor.

Update – the MicroCenter link above no longer takes you to the sales page for the new processors. We are hearing that MC jumped the gun – the processors don’t actually go on sale until January 9th.
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Chip manufacturer and rock star creator Intel has announced the acquisition of Wind River for $884 million. Intel will acquire all outstanding Wind River common stock for $11.50 per share in cash. Wind River makes software for mostly mobile handsets and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel.

“This acquisition will bring us complementary, market-leading software assets and an incredibly talented group of people to help us continue to grow our embedded systems and mobile device capabilities,” said Renee James, Intel vice president and general manager of the company’s Software and Services Group.

Here’s a bit on Wind River from the acquisition release, “Wind River is a publicly held company with headquarters in Alameda, Calif., with more than 1,600 employees and operations in more than 15 countries. During its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2009, Wind River reported annual revenues of $359.7 million.”

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of summer. Wind River will report into Intel’s Software and Services Group, headed by Renee James.