With Core 2 Duo out in full force, Intel is expected to relegate its Pentium 4 chips to the bargain bin. Using Intel's suddenly outdated Netburst architecture, Pentium 4 CPUs will see their prices slashed by up to 58 percent at the start of 2007 as Intel looks to clear out inventory of its old chips. The price of the 3.0GHz Pentium 4 631, for example, is expected to drop nearly $100, from $163 to $69.
Intel will reportedly stop manufacturing Pentium 4 processors by Q3 of next year; production of the Netburst-based budget Celeron chip will cease in early '08. A budget line of CPUs based on Intel's new Core architecture is expected to be released in Q2 of next year. On the high end, of course, Intel's quad-core desktop CPU (Kentfield) is expected to be one of the major headliners of next year's CES.