Every current-gen iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini model available from the Apple store utilizes one of Intel’s second-generation Core processors (aka Sandy Bridge), this platform will be superseded by the Ivy Bridge platform and it makes no sense to release any new Apple desktop / MacBook models until Intel launch this new platform – we’ve now heard (from SlashGear) that Ivy Bridge chips won’t ship until June.

The new delay was confirmed by Sean Maloney (Intel’s vice-president and chairman of Intel China), he didn’t have a lot to say on the matter but suggested that the delay was not due to lack of demand, instead it was related to the manufacturing process which is undertaken when manufacturing these new smaller chips.

This has a direct affect on Apple’s 2012 release plans as Apple will want to give its next-gen products all the benefits which the Ivy Bridge platform brings (mainly lower power consumption and more processing power). In 2011 Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro (February 24), iMac (May 3), MacBook Air (July 20) and Mac mini (July 20) models with Sandy Bridge processors, therefore we half expected a similar release pattern this year, however now Apple has to wait longer than expected for Ivy Bridge processors to ship before they can manufacturer products which utilize them developers will have to optimize software and firmware to get the most out of the new platform.

Putting an exact date on Apple’s 2012 refreshes is impossible, however it will be worth the wait as Intel’s new 22nm process and 3D Tri-Gate transistors should ensure that next-gen models have processors which perform 37% faster than their predecessors whilst consuming up to 50% less power.

If you check out our previous article you can see a full spec sheet listing all the Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor offerings which we know about so far. It’s worth noting that the i3 options don’t boast the advanced Intel technologies or PCIe 3.0 support which the more expensive chips will offer, so take this into consideration if you plan on buying a system or building a PC with a Core i3 Ivy Bridge CPU.

Will you wait for an Ivy Bridge Mac, rather than but one within the next few months?

The i3 chips have always been the lowest-end Intel Core offerings, therefore we aren’t surprised to hear that Intel has decided to make a few compromises in regards to features, thanks to a recent CPU-World article we have all the specifics to divulge to our readers.

There are three Ivy Bridge Core i3 processors which we can tell you about today, these are the Core i3-3240, the Core i3-3225 and the Core i3-3220, these have clock speeds of 3.40, 3.30 and 3.30GHz respectively. They all boast a 3MB Cache, two cores, four threads, support for 1600MHz and 1333MHz DDR3 RAM and TDP ratings of 55W. Also the i3-3240 and i3-3220 utilize Intel HD Graphics 2500, whilst the Core i3-3225 gives you Intel HD Graphics 4000.

As you can see things look promising, however there are some corners which have been cut, these include no support for Turbo Boost or PCIe generation 3.0. In regards to advanced Intel Technologies we can also reveal that there’s no Intel Vpro technology, Intel VT-d, Intel TXT or AES-NI.

If you check out this image on Softpedia you can see a full breakdown of Intel’s Ivy Bridge specifics – we think the lack of support for PCIe 3.0 may put a lot of people off, but let’s face it if you’re buying components for a gaming PC you probably wouldn’t have opted for a i3 chip anyway. If you want a graphics card which offers PCIe compatibility you’ll have to go for a Core i5 or Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor.

Has anything here put you off the upcoming Core i3 processors?

At the show Intel linked an Ultrabook up to a steering wheel and projector during the demo and appeared to play Codemaster’s F1 2011 in DX11 mode, the game looked great but anyone who has ever used VLC media player will recognize that the control panel which pops up during the demo – so despite the fact that Intel’s General Manager of Intel’s PC group, Mooley Eden, appeared to be playing the game in real-time, we were in fact seeing a video.

We have embedded a video at the bottom of this post which showed exactly what happened, Intel has now admitted that a video was used during the Ivy Bridge demo, but they assure us that the video shown was recorded when playing the game using an Ivy Bridge processor. So why did they fake it? There’s two likely reasons for this, either Mooley sucked at the game and didn’t want to show his lack of skill to a live audience, or perhaps there’s some stability issues and Intel didn’t want to ‘biff’ such an important demo in front of so-many influential people – either way it’s pretty embarrassing!

The good news is that the guys over at BrightSideOfNews.com recently tried out the game on an Ivy Bridge-based Ultrabook and say that it looked great and ran smoothly with the resolution set to medium, check out their article for full details and a video showing the game running.

Do you think that measures should be put into place to ensure that what we see during press conferences is ‘real’?