Intel Launches Cheap Quad Core Mobile Chip

During a recession people resign themselves to the fact that they’re going to have to cut down on some luxuries -- and more often than not, gadgets and hardware find themselves on the list of items people can’t afford to buy but can well afford to live without.

However, recessions are also a time of bargains and it seems the bigwigs at Intel and Acer are determined to keep selling hardware and notebooks, no matter what the economic climate. Sunday saw Intel launch the Q9000 quad core mobile chip and on Monday Acer launched a new quad core notebook with a pretty decent price tag.

The Q9000 is among five new mobile chips announced by Intel, with four chips dual core chips and just one quad core. It’s the price of the quad core and its inclusion in Acer's latest notebook than has everyone talking. Available for just $348 (in 1,000 unit quantities), the Q9000 boasts 6MB of level 2 cache, a 1.066GHz FSB and a core clock speed of 2GHz. First horse out of the gate is Acer's Aspire 8930G. The company yesterday launched the 8930G-7665 and is pushing the gaming side of the machine with emphasis on the Q9000 and the notebook's 18.4-inch HD widescreen (1920 x 1080) with 16:9 aspect ratio.

The 8930G comes with 4GB of DDR3, Nividia’s 9700M GT 512MB, a 500GB hard drive, a blu-ray disc drive and Windows Vista Premium. Retailing at about $1,800, the Aspire is an attractive option for anyone who’s feeling the credit crunch but can’t get their mind off of a quad core notebook. Alternative machines with similar specs from the likes of HP or Dell are available but at a much higher price.

If you're in the U.S., let us know if you pick one of these up and what you think. Unfortunately there's no word yet on availability anywhere else.