Intel's Ivy Bridge delivers four cores of fury

After a long wait, chip titan Intel® has officially revealed the finer details of its third-generation Ivy Bridge chipset and released the processor family to manufacturers to include in laptops, desktops and Ultrabook™ computers.

The third-generation processors are the first to use Intel's 22-nanometer 3D tri-Gate transistor technology, which makes them among the fastest and most energy-efficient chips available.

Intel says that its quad-core processors will be ready for high-end desktops, laptops and all-in-one systems immediately. In the coming months, the company expects the technology will be ready to go for the emerging Ultrabook, a device that Intel has put a great deal of stock in during the past year.

In an interview with Computerworld, J. Gold Associates analyst Jack Gold says the chipset will be especially popular among enterprise users, who will appreciate the longer battery life and improved startup speeds for laptop and Ultrabook computers.

"The lower power/higher performance could be a game-changer. And it will be difficult for AMD to catch up in the short term," Gold tells the news provider.

Several industry observers have speculated that the Ivy Bridge family will be instrumental in the next generation of Ultrabook technology. With the new processors' arrival, many expect the prices of early Ultrabooks to drop, which could be key in capturing an interested audience.