Intel’s ‘Haswell’ chip retail prices revealed along with potential June 2 launch date

An unconfirmed list of retail prices for Intel’s fourth-generation ‘Haswell’ computer processors were posted on the Chinese portal VR-Zone today. As first reported by Hot Hardware, the prices so far seem on par with those of current Ivy Bridge processors, so it doesn’t appear that you’ll be paying a premium for the improved performance of the new chips.

Haswell processors are expected to be 10 percent faster in processing speed and offer as much as twice the graphics performance thanks to the new GT3 integrated graphics chip. In fact, Intel declared at CES earlier this year that the GT3’s performance is “on par with current mid-range graphics.” Consumers who have been frustrated by the poor gaming performance of Intel’s current generation of on-board graphics, like the Intel HD Graphics 4000, should be able to get better 3D graphics and higher frame rates out of their machines when playing the latest AAA titles.

If you’re on the hunt for a laptop, expect Haswell-powered Ultrabooks to offer significantly better battery life than its predecessor. While Intel is promising 13 hours of battery life, our own Matt Smith expects between 8 to 10 hours in real-world usage. Haswell-powered Ultrabooks are also rumored to support touchscreens, and shrink from about 17mm-thick down to 10mm, like the 12.8mm-thick NEC LaVie X.

If you’re looking to upgrade your existing tower with one of the upcoming Haswell processors to take advantage of the new on-board graphics, it looks like you won’t be paying much of an early-adopter tax to Intel at all.

For example, the cheapest 4th-gen chip on the list is the 3.0GHz Core i5-4430, rumored to retail for $175; whereas its likely predecessor, the core i5-3330, has a suggested retail price of around $180, according to Intel. On the other hand, the near top-of-the-line 3.5GHz Haswell Core i7-4770 is expected to retail for $292, while the current chip with similar computing power is going for between $290 and $310. (You can see a more complete list of prices via HotHardware.) Of course, these numbers have not been confirmed by Intel, and discounts have yet to be announced for the current crop of processors, so take these prices with a grain of salt.

VR-Zone also believes Intel will be making the Haswell processors official on June 2, just ahead of Computex in Taipei that takes place between June 4 and 8. That timeline seems to mesh with the mid-year date we’ve heard from Intel so far, so we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears tuned for more updates.