14 DAY TRIAL // Intel is in a very strange situation right now and, since it doesn't really have a solution for it, it is focusing its attention on the future, particularly on the start of 2013.
For those who don't know, Intel will release a new processor series in early 2013, called Haswell and based on the same 22nm manufacturing process as Ivy Bridge.
The first units could appear as early as March, but there aren't any guarantees against delays to May or June.
Regardless, the Santa Clara, California-based company has decided to discuss plans with OEMs sooner than normally warranted.
Long story short, Intel has invited six major PC brand vendors to discuss Haswell plans. HP, Lenovo, Acer and Dell are among them.
Haswell will bring improvements to power consumption efficiency, performance and, by extension, the balance between the two.
It is Chipzilla's hope that the final disadvantage compared to ARM, energy efficiency, will be surpassed, similar to how ARM recently disposed of its own greatest limitation: lack of 64-bit.
There is another reason for Intel's haste though, and it is not exactly a pleasant one: Ivy Bridge demand.
Apparently, the third-generation Core series haven't been selling as well as the corporation expected, for reasons less varied than some may think.
The choice of many to hold off on PC, laptop and tablet purchases until the launch of Windows 8 is the most obvious one.
The other big misgiving that some have in regards to Ivy Bridge, especially on the desktop front, is that the product line will be very short-lived.
Haswell will come with its own motherboard socket, LGA 1150, making the LGA 1155 more or less obsolete after barely two years of life. Needless to say, people who bought LGA 1155 mainboard expecting to stick to it for several years got a nasty surprise. Hopefully, Intel won't do the same with Haswell.