Need a new Computer? You might want to wait.

You may start to see prices dropping on some Desktops and Laptops in coming months, and you may rightly assume its the normal Back-to-School sales. However there is another reason lurking in the shadows only understood by real nerds.

First, a little background.

Intel redefined the PC market a few years back with the introduction of the Core2 processor family. They introduced a processor that, compared to the Pentium 4, was faster, cheaper to produce, used less power and therefore generated less heat. That in itself was a small feat of magic and it took Intel completely redesigning the processor from a totally new angle in order to achieve that success. Intel was greatly rewarded by that success when they were able to produce not only Desktop processors based on this new Core2 design, but also Laptop and Server processors as well. A single new process generated processors ranging from $50 to $4000.

Intel further refined this new architecture by shrinking the die of the processor (the heart of the processor manufactured by those guys in the bunny suits) which again reduced the power consumption and the heat generated, and let them produce chips that ran even faster.

Launched in late 2008 was the successor to the Core2 platform, code named Nehalem, was launched as a High End Desktop processor called the Core i7. It was available last year in machines from Dell and HP, but only on their high end/gaming models like the XPS and the Blackbird. The cost of entry for both store bought and hand built machines based on the Core i7 was fairly high, because this particular branch of the Nehalem family was meant for gamers and Enthusiasts. The second branch released was meant for Small to Medium servers and launched April 2009. The next branch (or two) coming are the real reason for this post.

Lynnfield is a code name from Intel for the Mainstream Desktop branch of the Nehalem family and it is widely thought that Intel will officially name that branch the Core i5 (though currently there is no official word from Intel).
The Core i5 will have 2/3 the total memory bandwidth that its Core i7 brother has, and the connection from the processor to the PCH will use the slower DMI technology rather than Core i7's QPI. PCH is a bit of a new item and is a combination of the NorthBridge and SouthBridge. For the lamens, this is what drives your Hard Drives, Add-on cards, USB, etc. The use of DMI wont cause many bottlenecks for things like Hard Drives, USB and your TV Tuner, but it might be a bottleneck for high end Video Cards. Well Intel thought of that and so your Video Cards in the Core i5 machine connect directly to the CPU and skip the PCH. The Core i5 will also be a Quad core chip like the i7, but some of the lower end chips will have things like Hyperthreading turned off so they dont compete unecessarily with higher end parts.
Now all that may have confused some of you, but all it really means is a core i5 won't be quite the speed demon that the Core i7 is. But for most average consumers, its still going to be plenty fast and will easily replace the older Core2 architecture.

This Core i5 branch was originally set to be launched in the 3rd Quarter of 2009, which if you are paying attention means as early as next month, or as late as September. Recently based on the lack of sales of the Core2 products, Intel has said they are intentionally slipping this product back to September however in order to allow existing inventories of Core2 to become more depleted. So sometime in October/November timeframe (Don't forget it takes HP/Dell a little while to take the bare processors and wrap machines around them) we should see the new hotness hit the store shelves just in time for the holiday shopping season.

For the laptop crowd, there is also a "high end mobile" processor code-named Clarksfield that should be released around the same time. You wont find it in the average 14/15 inch laptop. This will most likely be limited to high end gaming laptops and the so-called "Desktop replacement" notebooks.

Both of these branches of the Nehalem family should offer a significant jump in performance if your still running an old Pentium 4, Pentium D, Athlon 64 X2 or Pentium Dual Core. So if your considering upgrading to a new machine in the next few months, I would reccomend waiting till the new stuff arrives. Then you will have to make a choice. Get a Core2 based machine with a steep discount applied, or spend a little more for the new Nehalem powered machines.

And don't forget, this may seem like a lot of PC only information, but Apple's entire Mac line is now powered by Intel and uses all these same processors. So you should see a refresh in models from Apple anywhere from November to the spring of 2010.

For more highly technical information on the Lynnfield, checkout this great article over at Anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3570


Coincidentally, Windows 7 should be available in Late October just in time to be loaded on a large number of these new machines that will be coming out.