also @ TechSpot: AMD A4-5000 Review: the affordable ultraportable APU

› ›

Intel quietly lowers prices on Core i3-550, others

By

On October 18, 2010, 2:46 PM

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.


,

5 comments

User Comments: 5

Got something to say? Post a comment
  1. October 18, 2010 3:12 PM
    captaincranky
    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    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.

    Reply
  2. October 18, 2010 6:03 PM
    3DCGMODELER
    3DCGMODELER said:

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

    Reply
  3. October 19, 2010 7:47 PM
    Guest said:

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

    Reply
  4. October 21, 2010 5:48 AM
    Guest said:

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

    Reply
  5. October 21, 2010 7:39 AM
    LinkedKube
    LinkedKube, TechSpot Project Baby, said:

    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.

    Reply

Recently commented stories

Post a new comment

Social Login & Guest Posting TechSpot Members
Login here or sign up for free,
it takes about a minute.
Get complete access to the TechSpot community. Join thousands of technology enthusiasts that contribute and share knowledge in our forum. Get a private inbox, upload your own photo gallery and more.
TechSpot on:

Most Popular

Trending Featured
More Trending Topics

Featured on Keyboards

Downloads and Drivers

Downloads   Drivers  

KiTTY 0.62.2.3

mIRC 7.32

Actual Bookmarks 1.2

World of Warcraft Patch 5.3.0

Funny Photo Maker 2.4.1

More Downloads

Latest Discussion

What's the difference between DDR3 memory and GDDR5 memory? 21 replies on Processors and Motherboards

Wireless capability keeps turning off 21 replies on Storage and Networking

Need advice on router-buy 10 replies on Storage and Networking

Zotac gtx 660 fan problem 6 replies on Audio and Video

Overclocking i7-3770k, question about speedfan 7 replies on Overclocking, Cooling and Modding

More Recent Discussion

Subscribe to TechSpot

Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and breaking tech news.