First Intel Ivy Bridge launch expected on April 23

Ivy Bridge is the first in a series of upcoming Intel mainstream chips that emphasize graphics and multimedia processing. Its launch is expected on April 23, 2012.

Preliminary benchmarks demonstrate the chip's graphics prowess compared to earlier Intel designs. Ivy Bridge is also the first Intel chip to employ new 3D transistors and the first to support USB 3.0 (in the companion chipset).

Rumors have Apple bringing out a thinner 15-inch MacBook model in the coming months as well as 13-inch MacBooks. Those systems will likely tap Intel's more power-efficient Ivy Bridge chips.

And Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, and Asus will update and/or bring out new systems. These will run the gamut of laptop designs, but more systems are expected to be thin. Even many higher performance systems are expected to have a slimmer chassis. Those laptops typically use a separate graphics chip from suppliers such as Nvidia.

Though the first Ivy Bridge announcement will come this month, rollouts are expected to be staggered. As Intel has done in the past, quad-core chips appear first followed by the most power-efficient processors that go into ultrabooks and the MacBook Air.