Most Intel Boxed CPU Sales Are Pentium

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A report today revealed that roughly half of the boxed, retail processors that Intel expects to sell in Q1 2010 will be from the low-end Pentium Dual-Core product line. Intel expects these low-cost, high-volume chips to make up more shipped units than the Core 2, Core i5 and Core i7 product lines combined.

You might recall that in 2006, with the release of their Yonah architecture, Intel “retired” the Pentium name in favor of the new “Core” name. Apparently, somebody at Intel really likes the name “Pentium” as last year, their low-end “Dual Core” processors were renamed “Pentium Dual Core”.

The folks at Fudzilla got their hands on a sales newsletter from Intel (intended for Intel’s computer manufacturing partners) and in said document, Intel reveals, as aforementioned, that they expect 50% of their sales of boxed, retail processors will these low-end chips. Here’s the total breakdown of expected volume.

• Pentium – 50%
• Core 2 – 19%
• Celeron – 11%
• Core i7 – 6%
• Core i5 – 5%
• Core i3 – 3%
• Other – 6%

While the average TFTS tech power user might be confused as to why – remember that boxed, retail CPU sales are pretty meager in the big picture, as OEM unboxed sales will make up the majority of the volume for Intel. So, if Intel is moving mostly Core i3s to Dell, Acer, etc., it wouldn’t be in this report.

Furthermore, it isn’t revolutionary to see the cheapest processor do the best in terms of volume. eMachines sells a lot more computers than Alienware every year.