Intel new i5 chip - more processing power at lower cost phote:expreview.com

New i5 and i7 chips are cheaper, faster and will change the standard desktop computer by Christmas

With story from ComputerWorld

The much anticipated Lynnfield processors were released today by Intel. While they had shown up in Taiwan in August, Intel had kept a tight rein on the actual product which can ship from dealers who have stock. The first mass market desktop with the i5 chip appears to be the Dell XPS Studio 8000.

When Intel launched the i7 or Nehalem processor family last year it was meant for gamers and high end applications. i7 computers were usually more than $2,000 and bare bones at $1,300.

These new chips will appear in computers at or about $1,000 although none of them have appeared in North America on shelves.  

Dell XPS 8000 i5 750 @ $799 US

Dell is advertising a new Dell XPS Studio 8000with i5 chip for US $799 which is good intro pricing. It includes:

• i5 750 processor at 2.66 GHz
• Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz – 4 DIMMs
• Video Card ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
• Hard Drives 500GB – 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
• Optical Drive Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit

The Lynnfield family is smaller and uses less power than the original i7 family. The i7 has new processors in this family the i7 870 performance chip but the real volume will be the i7 860 which competes with the i7 920 and the mid-range desktops based on the i5 750.

Along with a smaller chip, Intel has moved the Northbridge (memory controller) and Southbridge (input output controller) external chips onto the Lynnfield series processor.

HP doesn’t list a new computer yet but it will. Rumors are they have a new DV laptop coming.

Want to know more?
Intel releases first Nehalem chip for mainstream PCs
Second Advent of Nehalem: Core i7-870 and Core i5-750 Processors in LGA1156 Platform