EDIT: Please read through this whole thread, it's got a LOT of great points and some reply's with GREAT information. THANKS!
I've gotta say that 4 cores doesn't really seem all that appealing to me at this point in time. At least NOT for your typical home user. Especially since dual core is finally starting to pick up some real steam. I'm hoping that app and game programmers will start actually utilizing these "multi-core" CPU's before we take off in to the "10-core" realm. It just seems like WAY too soon to already be thinking 4 cores. (anyone else share these thoughts?) I wish that even now the current dual cores could use the second core for something like physics processing. (a PPU just seems like a waste of money in it's current form... just check out the most recent Tom's review) The only way I can see wanting a quad core machine is if, for example, in games they could work it so that one core does AI, one core does physics, one runs your background apps/resources, and one does whatever single core would normally process during games. That seems like it would be good utilization, but hey... what do I know? I'm sure there are other uses like high end video editing, or CAD, or for Enterprise Servers, or something along those lines that some people may be able to use the multi core CPU's for; but not so much for the average user... at least not yet.
EDIT: My real fear is that with C2D and such coming out now only high end enthusiasts and Enterprise users will find any real value or use for quad cores or more at this time. (Enterprise b/c obviosly they can actually use the power in high end servers and such, and the enthusiasts really just for bragging rights) And because only high end consumers and Enterprise will find value it there may be a seriously large inventory left over... which could hurt both Intel and AMD. It just seems like too soon. My opinion is that they need to wait just a little bit until apps can actually utilize all these cores to make it worth the money. Dual core is great for now.
I've gotta say that 4 cores doesn't really seem all that appealing to me at this point in time. At least NOT for your typical home user. Especially since dual core is finally starting to pick up some real steam. I'm hoping that app and game programmers will start actually utilizing these "multi-core" CPU's before we take off in to the "10-core" realm. It just seems like WAY too soon to already be thinking 4 cores. (anyone else share these thoughts?) I wish that even now the current dual cores could use the second core for something like physics processing. (a PPU just seems like a waste of money in it's current form... just check out the most recent Tom's review) The only way I can see wanting a quad core machine is if, for example, in games they could work it so that one core does AI, one core does physics, one runs your background apps/resources, and one does whatever single core would normally process during games. That seems like it would be good utilization, but hey... what do I know? I'm sure there are other uses like high end video editing, or CAD, or for Enterprise Servers, or something along those lines that some people may be able to use the multi core CPU's for; but not so much for the average user... at least not yet.
EDIT: My real fear is that with C2D and such coming out now only high end enthusiasts and Enterprise users will find any real value or use for quad cores or more at this time. (Enterprise b/c obviosly they can actually use the power in high end servers and such, and the enthusiasts really just for bragging rights) And because only high end consumers and Enterprise will find value it there may be a seriously large inventory left over... which could hurt both Intel and AMD. It just seems like too soon. My opinion is that they need to wait just a little bit until apps can actually utilize all these cores to make it worth the money. Dual core is great for now.