Quote Originally Posted by Shintai View Post
i5 is a mainstream quad. Plus C2Q. And who says you cant upgrade your i5 quad? Its just not gonna be with westmere.

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That's BS.

What's the point for a Quad-Core Westmere in the next 12 months when i5 is being launched late this year ? 4 core Westmere will happen , just that it will probably ship in H2 2010.

Imagine this - Why not Westmere at the high end with 45nm I5s as the bulk in 2010 ? Later , Sandy Bridge as high end with 4-6 core Westmere as bulk in 2011.
It is tick-tock slightly altered allowing Intel to gain maximum possible from a n-1 process by extending its lifespan.

45nm will rule the middle for 3 years allowing Intel to get the $80B envisioned from 45nm products.Intel brought 4 45nm FABs online.You need huge volume to get ROI on that.While its US FABs are converted to 32nm, Intel needs to keep at least one huge 45nm FAB , FAB28 , full , thus it needs to manufacture large amounts of 45nm products ( Atom is close to irrelevant at over 2000 per wafer ) like CPUs and GPUs.