Intel maintains forecast for launch of the Calpella mobile platform for next quarter

Expected to use on first MacBooks Pro quad-core, Intel's next mobile chip platform (codenamed Calpella) is still expected to hit the market in the next quarter. Information from a number of partner manufacturers of the company shows that it has already announced its official plans for several different segments that will begin receiving updates in the coming months.

Among these segments is the 13.3 to 18-inch notebook market with prices of at least $ 1,200, in which Apple is embedded and will be the target of the Calpella platform. Successor of the current Montevina, this series of chips corresponds to the sixth generation of Intel's mobile line and will initially have three processors quad-core manufactured by the 45 nanometer process. With clock speeds of 1.6GHz, 1.73GHz and 2GHz, they will sell for $ 364, $ 546 and $ 1,054, respectively.

In the current price range practiced by Apple, only 1.6GHz and 1.73GHz chips could be used in MacBooks Pro – their frequency is lower, but four heads work much better than two. At first, the use of these processors in MacBooks and MacBook Air is impossible to achieve, due to the current efficiency of these machines.

Only in the first half of 2010 will we have chips quad-core ready for machines like this, when the first Arrandale processors, successors to the Calpella using the 32-nanometer manufacturing process, should hit the market. Returning to Calpella, it is important to remember that the negative effects of the crisis on PC sales can cause the first notebooks in this architecture to delay a lot due to the burning of current stock. In the worst case, October marks the first launches of this platform on the market.

Before that, Ma's portable line must undergo yet another update with Montevina chips, at least in the lower cost models. While we have no forecast on when it will be held, it is estimated to come during WWDC ’09 week, next month.