Intel says first quad-core mobile chips on the horizon
Apple chip supplier Intel said this week it's nearing the release of the industry's first mobile chips with four processing cores and is separately putting the finishing touches on a new generation of processors for ultra-thin notebooks like Apple's new MacBook Air.
The Santa Clara-based chip maker said the two processor families will combine to offer notebook manufacturers a total of eight new chips when they're announced in the next 90 days, wrapping up a mobile-focused summer for the company aimed at pushing innovation in surging notebook market.
Intel also announced this week the formal availability of its next-generation Intel Centrino 2 Core Duo processors -- formerly codenamed Montevina -- which improve upon every facet of mainstream notebooks, from performance and battery life to faster draft 802.11n wireless and high-definition video support.
"Today, notebooks outsell desktops in the U.S, and we're paving the way to HD entertainment, rich online gaming, faster broadband wireless speeds and an easier and more secure way for businesses to manage, update and repair their notebook fleets," said Mooly Eden, vice president of Intel's Mobile Platforms Group.
The five new Core 2 Duo chips, which are the successors to those used in Apple's existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, range in speed from 2.26GHz to 2.80GHz, and feature a 1066MHz front-side bus with up to 6MB of Level 2 cache. All are based on Intel's high-k metal gate formula and advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process.
Three of the new chips -- 2.26GHz, 2.4GHz, and 2.53GHz -- have seen an approximately 30 percent reduction in wattage to just 25 watts. Meanwhile, all five of the new chips take advantage of the chip maker's Deep Power Down Technology that turns off processing components such as core clocks and cache memory when a notebook is idle for greater energy savings.
Simultaneously, Intel also introduced what it's calling the "world's highest-performing dual-core mobile processor," a Core2 Extreme chip running at a brisk 3.06 GHz with a thermal design power of 44 watts.
Another feature of the Centrino 2 mobile platform is something Intel is calling
"switchable graphics," or an optional power-saving feature that provides both integrated and discrete graphics on a single notebook, enabling users to easily switch between the two options.
"Switchable graphics delivers greater 3-D performance when needed while providing the option for greater power savings for the best of both worlds," the company said.
Intel added that Centrino 2 processor will also deliver for the first time the horsepower and battery life to watch a typical full-length Blu-ray high-definition video on a single battery charge.
The Santa Clara-based chip maker said the two processor families will combine to offer notebook manufacturers a total of eight new chips when they're announced in the next 90 days, wrapping up a mobile-focused summer for the company aimed at pushing innovation in surging notebook market.
Intel also announced this week the formal availability of its next-generation Intel Centrino 2 Core Duo processors -- formerly codenamed Montevina -- which improve upon every facet of mainstream notebooks, from performance and battery life to faster draft 802.11n wireless and high-definition video support.
"Today, notebooks outsell desktops in the U.S, and we're paving the way to HD entertainment, rich online gaming, faster broadband wireless speeds and an easier and more secure way for businesses to manage, update and repair their notebook fleets," said Mooly Eden, vice president of Intel's Mobile Platforms Group.
The five new Core 2 Duo chips, which are the successors to those used in Apple's existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, range in speed from 2.26GHz to 2.80GHz, and feature a 1066MHz front-side bus with up to 6MB of Level 2 cache. All are based on Intel's high-k metal gate formula and advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process.
Three of the new chips -- 2.26GHz, 2.4GHz, and 2.53GHz -- have seen an approximately 30 percent reduction in wattage to just 25 watts. Meanwhile, all five of the new chips take advantage of the chip maker's Deep Power Down Technology that turns off processing components such as core clocks and cache memory when a notebook is idle for greater energy savings.
Simultaneously, Intel also introduced what it's calling the "world's highest-performing dual-core mobile processor," a Core2 Extreme chip running at a brisk 3.06 GHz with a thermal design power of 44 watts.
Another feature of the Centrino 2 mobile platform is something Intel is calling
"switchable graphics," or an optional power-saving feature that provides both integrated and discrete graphics on a single notebook, enabling users to easily switch between the two options.
"Switchable graphics delivers greater 3-D performance when needed while providing the option for greater power savings for the best of both worlds," the company said.
Intel added that Centrino 2 processor will also deliver for the first time the horsepower and battery life to watch a typical full-length Blu-ray high-definition video on a single battery charge.
Comments
Apple chip supplier Intel said this week it's nearing the release of the industry's first mobile chips with four processing cores.
The Santa Clara-based chip maker said the two processor families will combine to offer notebook manufacturers a total of eight new chips when they're announced in the next 90 days, wrapping up a mobile-focused summer for the company aimed at pushing innovation in surging notebook market.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Today + 90 days = end of October for the Intel announcement = new Macbook Pro at Macworld in January?!
Could this coincide with Snow Leopard?
Oh yes, let it snow, let it snow
Today + 90 days = end of October for the Intel announcement = new Macbook Pro at Macworld in January?!
Could this coincide with Snow Leopard?
Oh yes, let it snow, let it snow
That would be totally fab. I'm going to NY in January and would love to bag a brand new Mac, hopefully the £->$ rate stays as good as it is!
When will we see those Chips in top of the line iMacs?
Sometime bewteen now and never.
Official Intel Press Release on Centrino 2 (Montevina) Platform
Thank goodness for a non-iPhone story. Now bring on those MacBooks
...took the words right out of my mouth.
on a entirely different note,
it is kinda of sad, not much performance improvement, AMD you got 6 more months to hurry up ...
i've been waiting to get a new computer for college which start in augest. i am wondering when the hell are they going to bring out new macbook pro and macbooks?
when the new enclosure ready!!! and when apple is free from iPhone frezny!
Both AMD/ATI and nVidia have similar solutions. AMD's is called "Hybrid Graphics/PowerXpress" and nVidia's platform is called "HybridPower". Now I believe nVidia doesn't make laptop motherboards, so their tech is desktop only. AMD's solution works with their laptop motherboards and ATI cards. So I'm wondering which discrete graphics cards work with Intel's system? GPUs from both vendors?
Intel added that Centrino 2 processor will also deliver for the first time the horsepower and battery life to watch a typical full-length Blu-ray high-definition video on a single battery charge.
That will come in handy on Macbooks
again, the much awaited these CPUs do not give lots of performance improvement over the last one, apple may decided SKIP this update completely go with newer ones MWSF 2009 ...
on a entirely different note, it is kinda of sad, not much performance improvement, AMD you got 6 more months to hurry up ...
Yeah, screw this update, I'm waiting for a Nehalem Mac Pro! As far as AMD, I don't think "Turion Ultra" is going to cut it on laptops, although one could argue that CPU speeds aren't as big of a deal as they used to be, which probably gives traction to the "balanced platform" marketing from AMD of having a decent processor with a decent integrated GPU. I have to agree with them since AMD's integrated graphics are 3-5X faster than Intel.
It looks like AMD's best laptop competition won't come until Q1 2009 (if that) with the Fusion (CPU+GPU) processor. The first Fusion part available is *NOT* going to be based on the 'Bulldozer' core, but instead on a K10 core like Barcelona, but at 45nm. The notebook platform with this processor is codenamed "Swift". (versus "Falcon" platform for the "Bulldozer core + GPU" version of 'Fusion').
Hopefully AMD made this change to move up the release instead of waiting for the next-gen Bulldozer core to be ready. Although on the other hand, Bulldozer could have been delayed and forced their hand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion
i've been waiting to get a new computer for college which start in augest. i am wondering when the hell are they going to bring out new macbook pro and macbooks?
Current models are sufficient to get you through school. When the machine will not keep up with your usage, then you need an improved model, not before. So, go get a new MB, and quit worrying about vaporware.
So does anyone know whats up with Intels "switchable graphics" (allows a laptop to have both low-power integrated graphics and a high-powered discrete GPU, allowing you to switch between high performance and low power usage) ?
Both AMD/ATI and nVidia have similar solutions. AMD's is called "Hybrid Graphics/PowerXpress" and nVidia's platform is called "HybridPower". Now I believe nVidia doesn't make laptop motherboards, so their tech is desktop only. AMD's solution works with their laptop motherboards and ATI cards. So I'm wondering which discrete graphics cards work with Intel's system? GPUs from both vendors?
That is the question. Montevina is so far behind that I wouldn't be surprised to see another delay, especially with AMD no where near Intel on the mobile field. Anand was able to get one system from Sony and the quality of that was poor. Anand didn't even know if it was going to dynamically switch from integrated to discrete on the fly (like when it's n battery or plugged in) or if a restart was required.
The iMac already has these....
Montevina won't be out for another month, if not longer. What the iMac is still Santa Rosa, but with Montevina qualities. I had thought the same thing too when I saw the specs.
Current iMac CPU numbers:
Thank goodness for a non-iPhone story. Now bring on those MacBooks
I know- it's more like AppleIphoner or iPhoneInsider here for the last year.
As far as the original post I responded to, there would probably be no difference in performance between the two for the iMac, except for power consumption. We'll have to wait for the quad chips!
? Speed will again be slight for the same price chip-over-chip upgrade.The current and future MB/MBPs will be still be Penryn. The big benefit seems to come from the other features, like the H.264 decoder. This may come in handy with iTunes Store video purchases, but the CPU is till only one aspect to the power consumption so that may be a minimal gain. I also have my doubts about the GPU switching, this may be as pointless as Intel's Turbo Memory.
?*The people being loudest about how Apple is taking to long to release nee MB/MBPs, despite the chips not being ready, will be the first ones to complain when the performance hasn't improved enough.
? The MBA will get a nice efficiency bump with the 22mm^2 Montevina packages. The speeds will be about the same, the price may be lower (I don't think we have any facts on the current chip price), but the power usage will be going from 20W in the current MBA CPU to 17W.