It seemed that Intel has started shipping fixed B3-stepping 6-series Sandy Bridge chipsets to ‘first-tier makers’ of laptops and motherboards. It’s therefore expected that these companies will ‘unveil their Sandy Bridge-based models at the end of the month.’

This is actually within the expected time-frame that Intel quoted when the story of the Intel Sandy Bridge chipset flaw first broke, and indicates that production of Sandy Bridge motherboards should be in full swing by April.

This also fits with what our sources have told us about the new B3-stepping chipset – that laptop manufacturers are getting a larger share of them than motherboards makers. This is possibly due to the fact that laptops have to go through more QA processes and testing (for keyboards, screens, hinges and so on) than motherboards.

It seemed that Toshiba will be the first to announce Sandy Bridge-powered notebooks in Taipei on February 23, ‘with the products to be available starting mid-March.’

‘Acer and Asustek Computer [typically referred to as Asus] are also expected to begin shipping Sandy Bridge notebooks in mid-March,’ claims DigiTimes. We expect motherboards using the new B3 silicon from the big three manufacturers to be on sale around the same time, or possibly a week or two later.

SOURCE via Digitimes