We've been assuming that Intel's next-generation Nehalem processor would land in Q4 '08 for the high-end market. With many of us reluctant to pay hundreds of pounds for a chip, we were expecting to wait until 2009 for Nehalem parts aimed at the mainstream.
However, according to a leaked Intel roadmap captured by expreview.com, we might not be made to wait at all.
The image isn't of the best quality, and suffers from an awkwardly placed watermark, but the important details are clear enough.
Bloomfield, codename for Intel's desktop Nehalem parts, will be available as a 2.66GHz chip aimed at the mainstream market in Q4 '08. It'll be accompanied by 2.93GHz and 3.2GHz parts, for the performance and extreme brackets, respectively.
Intel still doesn't appear to have a commercial name for Bloomfield, but Q4 is fast approaching and official details can't be far away now.