With every new beginning, there comes an end. Just as Ivy Bridge slid into the Sandy Bridge space, so a new king will soon arrive – demanding the overthrow of the present regime. But with the glitzy new product range comes issues. Most notably for Intel and its partners, “What to do with existing stock?”    KitGuru takes a butchers down the high street.

While no one knows for sure, each previous generation of Intel processor seems to have delivered 5-15% more performance – so maybe that will happen this time as well.

If all things were equal – and pricing wasn't fluid – then that would be a natural win. But pricing does change, especially when there is too much stock in the channel.

We have spoken to a few industry experts who blame Microsoft and its near-universally hated operating system, Windows 8, for the complete slow down in system sales. USA Today put it succinctly when it said “…adopters of Windows 8 feel there's something missing”. Yep. Productivity. And, with it, recommendations. Instead, it has ridden a wave of upset.

A quick glance at the Stardoc page on traffic monitoring site Alexa, shows the launch date of Microsoft Windows 8 with incredible clarity. If you haven't heard of it, Stardoc provides a cheap utility that will make Windows 8 look like Windows 7. It takes away your frustration and gives you pack the productivity you felt in the past.

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Windows 8 is bad and Intel has some new products coming. Great. How does that relate to the stock in the channel?

Well, the slow down in sales felt across the industry around the time of the Windows 8 launch has left a lot of 3rd Generation chips out there.

With the new launch coming, resellers, stores and distributors alike all want to clear their shelves of the old stuff. That has manifested itself in some serious price cutting.

Today we bore witness to several hundred pounds being taken off some systems – while others enjoyed a more modest 10% reduction.

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KitGuru says: If pure performance is not your guiding principal when it comes to making a new system purchase – then NOW would seem like a great time to pick up a bargain.

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