Intel Adds Laptop Processors, Updates Xeon Pricing

Intel released pricing information for its new line of Xeon processors that are now based on the updated Nehalem architecture, as well as several new processors for laptops and servers. At the same time, Intel and Nvidia are still struggling in court over who has rights to create chip sets for Nehalem.
Intel has updated its processor pricing list to include new chip models for laptops. In addition to the “Nehalem EP” Xeon processors for two-socket systems that Intel officially rolled out on March 30, the chip giant has introduced several other chips, including ultra low-volt and low-volt models for notebooks. Pricing lists released March 29, included four new chips for laptops: an Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600 (2.53 GHz) for $316; an ultra low-volt Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600 (2.13 GHz), also for $316; an ultra low-volt Intel Core 2 Solo processor SU3550 (1.4 GHz) for $262; and a Celeron 900 processor (2.20 GHz) for $70. The new crop of Nehalem-based Xeon processors — 12 in all — for servers and workstations vary from the 3.20GHz Xeon W5580 for $1,600, down to the 2.13GHz L5506 for $423. Finally, Intel also rolled out three additional Xeon processors for server systems that include a Xeon W3570 (3.20 GHz) for $999; a W3540 (2.93 GHz) for $562; and a W3520 (2.66 GHz) for $284. All the Intel processors are calculated in 1,000-unit shipments. The popular Xeon processors — which are in the new Dell Precision workstations as well as the updated Apple iMac — are behind lawsuits Intel and Nvidia have filed against one another. Intel claims Nvidia doesn’t have the right to develop and manufacture chip sets for processors based on the Nehalem microarchitecture. Whereas Nvidia believes the 2004 agreement signed by the two entitles it to create chip sets for future generations of CPUs. Among the processors in Intel’s new pricing lineup, none saw a pricing reduction.