Intel has no room for error with the launch of its Arrow Lake processors, which should enable the company to restore some of its reputation.
For several weeks now, Intel has been in turmoil after one disappointment after another: the difficulties are such that the American company is preparing to lay off at least 15,000 of its employees, the biggest redundancy plan in its history. In fact, Intel is playing for high stakes with the release of its next generation of desktop processors, Arrow Lake, and all information relating to this new range is being closely scrutinized. The latest is not very good news, even if there's nothing catastrophic about it.
Indeed, until now, it was generally accepted that Intel would present the Arrow Lake range on October 10 and market it a week later, on October 17. These indications came from informants "in the know", but Intel had never confirmed these dates, and now the second one has been updated: we're no longer talking about October 17, buta week later, on October 24. I'm sure you'll agree that such a "delay" isn't going to change the face of the world, especially as there's still no mention of any confirmation from Intel.
Intel Arrow Lake CPU prices at PC Canada © VideoCardz
The second piece of information that Intel has obviously not yet confirmed is the price of this new range of processors, and since the American firm is playing for big bucks with this generation, we're delighted to see that the first pricing details are rather reassuring: Intel seems intent on offering Core Ultra Arrow Lake processors at prices very similar to those of the Raptor Lake Refresh or 14th-generation Core processors it launched a year ago. According to PC Canada, the Core Ultra 9 285K (24 cores, up to 5.7 GHz) would be priced at CAD 847.99, whereas this retailer currently sells the Core i9-14900K at CAD 822. The Core Ultra 7 265K (20 cores, up to 5.5 GHz) would be 584.99 CAD, i.e. slightly cheaper than the Core i7-14700K, and the Core Ultra 5 245K (14 cores, up to 5.2 GHz) would be exactly the same price as the Core i5-14600K, at 447.99 CAD. If these prices are confirmed and the Arrow Lake chips perform well, Intel could well be back on the winning track.
