InvalidError :
jimmysmitty :
There is no real PC decline. People keep saying that if it is a fact but it isn't.
Well, all reports agree that retail sales have slowed down by 8-10% in 2013 so unless DIY builders are putting together ~30M more new PCs per year than they already were in 2012, the (traditional) PC market certainly is not doing well.
On a different note, Intel's pricing seems to be getting out of control: two years ago, the most expensive i3 was $125, now the cheapest Haswell-Refresh looks like it could be over $130 and the most expensive i3 will be passing i5's former entry-level pricing. That seems completely nuts.
The PC market always has ups and downs. The previous boost was most likely the influx of businesses that upgraded to 7 and in so also would buy new PCs. Since people hung on to XP for so long, especially businesses, that gave it a very large boost in sales compared to most time periods. It makes sense that it will scale down a bit. I am pretty sure it will increase again when businesses decide to upgrade to whatever version of Windows next suits them.
As for the cost, it is actually very similar and you are a bit off. The i3-4150 is close to the i3-3250 (Ivy Bridge is about 2 years ago) in specs and that was $138 on release. The entry level Ivy Bridge i5 was $182 on release, the i5-3330,. Both prices wouldn't include retailer markup either.
You are correct that the Ivy Bridge i3s started at a lower price, the i3 3220 was $117 at release but the new equivalent is the Pentium G3440; same clock speed, cache sizes and TDP on only no HT on the Pentium but it does have a better IGP than the i3 did. Its price is $90 meaning similar performance for most users at a lower price point.
Intel has redone some of its naming scheme. Atom is now Celerons and entry level Pentiums with higher end Pentiums seem to have taken over lower end i3s.
InvalidError, Broadwell is not meant to outperform Haswell but rather lower the process and as well TDP. Skylake will be performance enhancements on the 14nm node that Broadwell is supposed to introduce.