Intel quietly lowers prices on Core i3-550, others

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Intel regularly tweaks its price list with nary a word to the masses, but the Tech Report caught chipzilla red-handed this time. The site reports that Intel has lowered prices on four desktop and two mobile processors. Looking at the latest price sheet (PDF), Intel cut 15% off its 3.2GHz i3-550, putting it at $117. That's identical to the 3.06GHz i3-540 and only $4 more than the 2.93GHz i3-530 -- the company's cheapest i3 desktop offering.

Processor	Clock	Cores/Threads	Sept. Price	Oct. Price
Core i3-550	3.20GHz	2/4	$138	$117
Pentium E6700	3.20GHz	2/2	$86	$75
Pentium E5700	3.00GHz	2/2	$75	$64
Pentium E3400	2.60GHz	2/2	$53	$42
Core i7-640LM	2.13GHz	2/4	$332	$311
Core i7-660UM	1.33GHz	2/4	$317	$289

Meanwhile, the Pentium E6700, E5700 and Celeron E3400 desktop chips are 13%, 15% and 21% cheaper, and the i7-640LM/i7-660UM mobile CPUs cost 6% and 9% less. It's unclear what prompted the drop, but it isn't reflected in consumer retail pricing yet, with the i3-550 still running $149.99 on Newegg. However, as Tech Report notes, if that changes, the i3-550 could nab sales away from the Athlon II x4 640 and other budget AMD chips.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/40720-intel-quietly-lowers-prices-on-core-i3-550-others.html

 

[captaincranky]

Super, when I bought my i3-530 for $99.95 at Microcenter, I didn't think that there would be a way I'd be punished as an, "early adopter". But now, the i3-540 can be had for the same price. Oh man, am I pissed.....! I'm overclocking mad...! Well, maybe a little anyway. Meh, nevermind.

 

[3DCGMODELER]

I wish they would lower the prices on the rest.. Basically to compete more with amd...

 

[Guest]

They don't need to compete with amd there cpu's outperform them so they can charge what they like.

 

[Guest]

my intel pro/wireless driver is out of work, but i cannot figure out which type i should update.any ideas?

 

[LinkedKube]

Have you seen intel's quarterly's this year. They're doing just fine.

I'll be skipping over to microcenter to pick up an i5 for an htpc build.