Intel Drops Sandy Bridge CPU Prices to Make Room for Ivy Bridge

Intel’s Ivy Bridge launch may not take place until the second quarter of 2012, but the chip maker has already started to prepare for these new chips by lowering the prices of some Sandy Bridge CPUs.

For now only a few mobile processors are affected by this price drop, mostly models from the Core i3 and i5 lines, as Intel wants to clear its inventory of these chips.

According to DigiTimes sources, the price drops hover between 10 and 15 percent, and are hoped to stimulate demand among notebook makers such as Lenovo, Asus or Acer, to name just a few.

The good news for end-users is that this price drop could spell lower prices for mainstream notebooks, which account for the largest part of sales recorded worldwide.

Furthermore, Ultrabooks are also bound to get cheaper, the same sources expecting first-generation Core i5-based ultra-thins to reach $799-899 US (612-689 EUR) in January of 2012.