Really? Is the quad-core out already then?
Yes. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 was released about a month ago. It is
super expensive ($1700 at Newegg) and not all that widely distributed,
but it is available. The quad core Xeon 5300 series is also
theoretically available, although I'm not sure you can actually buy
one just yet. Dell lists them on their websites but with their "May
delay your shipping date" warning.
/daytripper (no way Intel stands still for six+ months, son...)
The biggest change will be the marketting change of the Quad-core
desktop chips. Right now quad-core is only available as the Extremely
Expensive Edition. Sometime in early 2007 Intel will release the Core
2 Quad that will push quad-core down to the high-end and maybe even
into the top of the mid-range of the processor price/performance
spectrum. However this isn't actually a *new* processor, more just a
change in branding and clock speeds of the current top-end desktop
chip.
The only really new chip I would expect Intel to release in the
semi-near future is a Core-based Celeron processor. Right now all
Celerons are either based off the Pentium 4 architecture (all desktop
and some mobile Celerons) or the Pentium M architecture (only for some
mobile chips). Exactly when this Core-based Celeron will arrive and
in what guise (single vs. dual core, desktop vs. mobile) is still
unclear. My guess though is that it will be a single-core mobile chip
first with single and dual-core desktop chips not arriving until Q3 or
Q4 of 2007.
As far as I can tell Intel has not released their 2007 processor
roadmap yet, so we're kinda shooting in the dark on this one.