Intel Officially Launches Ivy Bridge Processors

The third generation core processor will be available at the end of April, carrying a whopping 13 quad-core processor and 3D transistor.

(Image source: Intel )   BY BREANA JONES Intel announced its newest line of Core processors—Ivy Bridge— will be available at the end of April. And it may be an all important bridge -- to smaller processors. It’ll carry a whopping 13 quad-core processors and a never-before-seen 3D transistor. But that’s not the best part— Forbes explains. “...a new generation of ‘Core’ processors with features as little as 22 nanometers wide … well ahead of competitors struggling to squeeze out chips with features 28 nanometers wide.” Add that to the 3D transistor, and Intel thinks it’s found a recipe for success in both the tablet and mobile industries.  BBC has details on what’s so special about the extra dimension. “The fact that Intel's new transistor technology - the on/off switches at the heart of its chips - are more power-efficient could be crucial to its future success. To date it has been largely shut out of the smartphone and tablet markets...” Eventually, Intel hopes Ivy Bridge will make Ultrabooks—think small, sleeker laptops, like the MacBook Air— the next best thing. The new technology could mean lower prices on Ultrabooks. Intel’s C.E.O. says Ultrabooks will make up 40% of notebook sales by the end of the year. Fox Business has his thoughts on why . “These things will hit the mainstream price points for $699 on up, they’ll be very affordable. A lot of them will have touch, when Windows 8 comes out, that takes advantage of touch. A lot of them are hybrid devices...” Intel says there are almost 600 devices under development that could use Ivy Bridge.