Quad-core based Macs may be on the horizon as Intel plans to introduce its new Core 2 Quad processor for commercial PCs at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. The Las Vegas-based CES show kicks off on January 8 and coincides with the the annual Macworld Expo, which takes place in San Francisco. Expected to be officially unveiled next week, it leaves open the possibility that Apple CEO Steve Jobs may demo new quad-core based Macs at his keynote on Tuesday. As anticipated late last year, eWEEK reports that the latest quad-core offering will join five other quad-core chips that Intel has already released for servers as well as its Core 2 Extreme quad-core QX6700 for high-end PC systems. The new Core 2 Quad will be marketed toward mainstream desktop users, according to the report, while two other quad-core Xeons, also due in the first quarter, will be released for ultra-dense employments and a single-socket workstation/servers.

Last November Intel introduced its first quad-core processors for both servers and high-performance desktops. The Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series was designed for servers and provided performance boosts at a lower price; it offered up to 2.5 times the performance of the fastest competing processor, according to tests cited by the company. Intel desktop-bound Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 is 80 percent faster than the company’s previous Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X6800.

"Intel will use CES to show consumers the performance enhancement quad-core chips offer versus dual-core chips, especially with downloading items such as music and movies," eWEEK wrote. "Specific details about the configurations of the Core 2 Quad, such as Front Side Bus architecture, performance per watt, cache memory and price, were sketchy. However, it appears that the processors will run at the 2.4GHz speed that Intel officials described at the company's Developer Forum in San Francisco on Sept. 26."