EDIT: I have broken up your post as it was quite difficult to read.
The new Haswell chips do not appear to be much of a leap forward in performance
Correct - Much of the focus is power efficiency and integrated GPU performance to compete against AMD's APU line, although clock for clock performance is expected to be improved ~10%.
and they are only going to be avalible in 4 core,
The only models rumored so far have been the I5/I7 models - likely the I3 will stay a 2 Core / 4 Thread model, with Pentium/Celeron Dual Cores remaining bottom of the range with only 2 Cores / 2 Threads..
I understand software has to support your number of cores but my quad wasn't heavily supported when I first bought it. But as my system has aged more and more software seems to be using it "unlocking" more of my cpu's capability.
Most software is now being designed for at least 2 Cores - single core processors are all but extinct - games especially are now scaling to take advantage of 4 and even 8 threads.
They also have onboard gpu technology and reduced power consuption which I can't hepl but feel I will be paying for but is pretty unnecessary for a desktop gamer with a dedicated gpu card that draws 200-250w.
The onboard GPU is more or less a freebie for most people - arguably it probably costs them more to produce a separate line of CPUs with no GPU. A lot of people are also benefiting from the inbuilt GPU to run 2nd or 3rd screens in Multi-monitor setups.
Most articles I read about them seems to be accociating them with laptops and tablets,
Laptops and Tablets are a huge market, so no surprise that Intel wants to tap into it - the benefits play out in the scheme of things at the desktop as well though - cooler running chips with less power draw mean quieter cooling solutions and potential to overclock.
I just can't hepl but feel I would be better off with a 6 core i7k as when Haswell comes out there will probably be a significant price drop in the lg2011 socket range that many people like myself could take advantage of. Please feel free to tell me if I have my facts wrong.
Depends on what you are doing? 6 Cores (12 Threads with HT) is arguably overkill for gaming (as games are mostly still designed for at best 4 Cores), but the 2011 platform has benefits with regards to PCI-E Lanes for Crossfire or SLI.
LGA 2011 is still running Sandybridge-E cpus rather than the Ivybridge of 1155, and there is no guarantee that Ivybridge-E will even be released. Arguably prices of 2011 will not drop just because Haswell launches - new products tend to just replace old at the same price point - older tech disappears rather than being discounted.
