Intel said keeping 2011 Core costly to clear PCs

Intel has tried to keep the price high on the Huron River platform driving its Sandy Bridge processors to clear out excess stock, notebook makers claimed on Monday. Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and likely other Windows PC builders have all reportedly been forced to keep using the older Core processor platform, Calpella, as their main platform until at least February as the computers haven't been selling as well as Intel hoped. An inventory backlog still exists, and sellers have claimed that they're "not performing as strongly as expected," Digitimes heard.

Part of the issue allegedly stems from customer anticipation, since many are supposedly expecting Huron River-based notebooks to appear and holding off. The explanation is questionable since most PC buyers have historically been unaware of Intel's refresh cycle and of specific updates, such as Huron River and Sandy Bridge.

The overstock hasn't been confirmed by Intel or the PC makers involved.

While the scope is uncertain, it comes just after claims that Acer and HP were facing iPad-related shipment slowdowns as customers avoided netbooks in favor of tablets, which to date are still led primarily by Apple. Slates may have cost both companies as much as 600,000 sales each this fall and may be countered by Mac sales that have been growing above the industry average for the past few years. Those reportedly seeing oversupply have seen slowed growth and reduced share in recent months.

Almost all of the PC industry depends on Calpella as it provides the chipset for notebooks using current Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Huron River is necessary for the next generation of Core chips as these use a brand new architecture that moves the graphics into the processor itself and thus talks to the system chipset differently.

By Electronista Staff