Waiting for affordable 45nm quad-cores in Q1 2008 is futile. Intel has serious shortages, production limitations, and even 45nm dual core E8x00 series is very tough to find. However, the situation is much better for dual core 45nm, as they are slowly coming onto the market.  

We still haven’t seen any Q9450 or Q9550 CPUs available, but QX9650 is available for €820+. We are sure that whoever wanted this CPU got it last year. People would like to go for a Q9450 and to replace their venerable Q6600 CPU, but they will simply have to be more patient and wait longer.

Intel is still in competition with itself, and it totally controls the situation; but the story that Intel will ship Quad-core 45nm CPUs in volume since the launch in January is a fairy tale for those nice investors.