Monday morning in San Francisco Intel wheeled out Ivy Bridge, its first cutting-edge 22nm 3-D tri-gate transistor widgets, which are also its third-generation Core processors.

They were originally supposed to ship in volume the end of last year and again a few weeks ago.

These first quad-core Core i5 and i7 chips are meant for desktops and conventional laptops targeting gaming, video editing and content.

In a couple of months Intel will have dual-cores for Ultrabooks that compete with Apple's ultra-thin, power-efficient MacBook Air. Server chips are also on the way.

Intel says there are 570 devices in design using these first Ivies. The first of them will be on the market before the end of the month and Intel projects that Ivy Bridge will represent 50% of its shipments by fall.

The widgetry means chips that are small, faster and consume less power. It's also supposed to mean heightened 3D graphics performance.

Intel says rather than its alternating "tick-tock cadence," Ivy Bridge is "tick-plus," representing both a new manufacturing processor and a new graphics architecture.

The widgets also promise new security features that protect personal data and identity, making it harder for hackers to take over a machine remotely and making a screen partially unreadable to snoopy spyware seeking to steal login credentials.

Intel also promises bigger data pipes to "keep data moving, minimizing any interruption to the PC experience." Intel is still all about PCs.