These prices bring up a few issues, mostly related to the incredibly low prices of the 500 and 550 MHz Pentium III Coppermines. The OEM and retail versions of the 500E can be found for as low as $180 and the 550E checks in at approximately $190-$210. This puts the Celeron 600 in the uncomfortable position of competing directly against the low-end Coppermines, which run on the 100 MHz FSB and have a full complement of 256K L2 cache. With this in mind, I can easily see lower Celeron 600 prices in the very near future, as the Coppermine 500-550 CPUs drive Celeron prices to a more competitive level.
This only applies to the prices of individual Celeron 600 processors, and does not address the positive effect these chips will have on the value PC market. While justifying a Celeron 600 upgrade might be difficult when compared to the Pentium III 500E and 550E, new system prices will definitely be a different story. With the propensity of big-name vendors to match PC components with perceived target markets, the Celeron 600 will likely be teamed with more affordable components than their Pentium III counterparts. This spells good news for the value PC buyer, as these affordable new systems will be faster than current Celeron PCs, and feature SSE and Coppermine enhancements as well.
If you're in the market for one of these Celeron processors, it's best to be armed with as much information as possible. To aid in your search, here are the available Celeron 566 and 600 OEM and retail processor models:
SL3W7 - Celeron 566 Retail
SL46T - Celeron 566 OEM
SL3W8 - Celeron 600 Retail
SL46U - Celeron 600 OEM
