Intel's Fast Core 2 Duo is Officially Official

I'm heading down to Intel's headquarters this morning for the formal launch of the Core 2 Duo (aka Conroe) processor. I'll report back on what we learn--we expect to get more details on specific PCs and the general Intel roadmap, but unless the company has any major surprises up its sleeve, the big news is already out, and it's good: This dual-core CPU is one fast chip. Our WorldBench tests of machines sporting Core 2 Duos produced the most impressive performance scores we've ever seen.

As long as I'm blogging, two other quick Core 2 Duo-related notes:

* Even if you're not in the market for a top-of-the-line PC with the latest chip, Core 2 Duo's arrival is a boon--it's already spurring price cuts on other chips, which will result in good deals on not-quite-cutting-edge PCs.

* You gotta think that AMD's plans to buy graphics giant ATI will have implications that will take a while to play out. Here's one tidbit: Rahul Sood, president of hotrod-PC manufacturer VoodooPC, has blogged that Intel has apparently decided not to demo any ATI-based machines onstage at today's event (Sood's blog is, by the way, a good read in general if you like PC industry scuttlebutt).

More to come...