Intel Pricing Forecast

Intel CPUs Prices Forecast and Analysis

Prices On Intel CPUs
Type	Speed	Cache(KB)	Jan 3	Feb 28	Apr 11
Pentium 3	533 MHz	512 ECC			$744
	500 MHz	512 ECC		$764	$678
	450 MHz	512 ECC		$530	$444
Pentium II	450 MHz	512 ECC	$562	$476	$396
	400 MHz	512 ECC	$353	$284	$246
	350 MHz	512 ECC	$202	$192	$192
	333 MHz	512 ECC	$181
	300 MHz	512 ECC	$192
Celeron	400 MHz	128 on-die		$183
	366 MHz	128 on-die		$163
	333 MHz	128 on-die		$123
	300 MHz	128 on-die		$93

Source: Electronic Buyers' News

Intel has stated at the announcement of the Pentium III that at launch, the P3-450 will be cheaper than the current price of the P2-450. You can see this trend in red - by the time the Pentium III ships in late February, the price will be less than for the January price of a P2-450. However, by then, the P2-450 will have dropped in price to $467. Following in April, the P3-450 will be less than the February/March price of the P2-450, but the P2-450 will have dropped even further to compensate. The P3-500, alone as the fastest Intel CPU shipping, will retain its price premium of around $750 at launch.

This is Intel's way of encouraging upgrading from the P2 line, while still making a pretty penny off of the highest end product. Notice how the P2-300 and 333 will no longer be manufactured after January.