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First Intel Yonah Laptop Announced
Lam1969 writes "IDG News Service reports NEC will release its first laptop based on Intel's Yonah dual-core processor in the first quarter of 2006, for just under $2,000. According to AnandTech, Yonah performance is comparable to AMD Athlon 64 X2, and is more efficient than the AMD chip in terms of power consumption."
I agree with you about AMD's technical superiority, but the Pentium M was, and is an excellent product. The 1.3 ghz Centrino I bought 2 1/2 years ago is holding up better than any of the other computers I've purchased.
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'' For desktops, regular dual CPU's will be a lot cheaper and just as effective for a long time to come.
Or am I missing something here?''
Ask Apple. They don't build any dual CPU machines anymore, just dual-core (there is one exception, and that is dual CPU + dual core = quad core).
If you can fit two CPUs into one chip, that is definitely cheaper than building two separate chips. There is faster communication from chip to chip (direct L2 cache to L2 cache is faster than going through the bus), L2 cache can be shared (so if one app is busy doing intensive calculations without much memory access, another one can have twice the L2 cache). Disadvantage can be that there is only one path between CPUs and memory.
Uhhh. Powermacs don't use G4s anymore. Nor do the iMacs.
Both of those lines use the IBM 64bit G5 chip.
Since when are 2kg and >4h battery time laptops desktop replacement parts?
Last time i looked, those used desktop cpus, were >3Kg and usually run about an hour...
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Read about the benefits Intel ascribes to 64-bit software here. "Processors with Intel EM64T support 64-bit capable operating systems from Microsoft, Red Hat and SuSE." And you won't be able to run them.
There are some applications where a 64-bit CPU can perform FOUR TIMES more work in 64-bit mode than 32-bit mode. One of these is big integer multiplication. Check out Is 32 bits really better than 64?": "If we instead would compare an Athlon XP and an Athlon 64, the latter would be almost 4 times faster. Why 4 times and not just 2 times? Because a 64x64=>128 bit integer multiplication actually performs 4 times more work than a 32x32=>64 bit integer multiplication!"
If you want a low power 64-bit CPU consider an AMD Turion based notebook. Check out this article and its conclusions. In particular, "A lot of people see Dothan's 27W TDP & Turion ML's 35W TDP and assume that Dothan is automatically lower power. Intel computes thermal design power as 75% of the maximum load on the chip, while AMD's TDP rating is derived from the absolute worst case power dissipation of the chip. Part of the total system power is also incorporated into AMD's TDP, as the memory controller is located on-chip. Intel's memory controller is built into the chipset and thus draws power not calculated as part of Dothan's TDP. Also while Turion 64 is at idle (800MHz clock speed), it's performance is likely to be higher due to the higher bandwidth data bus. All of these factors contribute to Turion 64 being more power efficient under low load circumstances."
And the -MT Turions have even lower power consumption: AMD Turion 64 specifications.
My next notebook will not be constrainted to only running x86-32 software.
No, it's not a 64-bit part.
It's still one cpu (ie not a dual xeon). Although the article is unclear whether it will come with the dual core or single yonah.
The human race is artificial intelligence created using object orientated programming.
It makes more sense to differentiate the two by giving PowerBooks the dual-core, with iBooks getting the upcoming single-core Yonah. And that'd certainly go a long ways towards keeping the iBooks cheap.
If this NEC is supposed to be $2k, that strongly suggests a dual-core mac notebook would be well out of the iBook price range, but right in line with PowerBook prices.
Powerbooks were upgraded recently, but it was a pretty meager bump.
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If it weren't for the P4, a processor like Yonah would never exist (at least, in the form it currently is in).
The whole PM line draws heavily on technologies that were invented and used in the Pentium 4 since the Williamette series. Even hyperthreading, a technology that IMO is too far ahead of its time to be useful, had its merits. Things like micro-op fusion, advanced cache logic, some of the most advanced branch predictors in the history of modern computing, these are all directly attributable to the Pentium 4 and the Netburst archetecture.
So, while the Pentium 4 product line wasn't the superb success that they were hoping for, it did teach Intel (and every other CPU vendor) a huge lesson about microchip archetectures. We've now seen the physics barrier; it's not on paper anymore, it's visible. We've learned how deep you can push a pipeline before it begins to have problems, we've learned all kinds of hacks and tricks to get around pushing the X86 archetecture ahead.
As for them going back to the Pentium 3's P6 archetecture; I personally think it's a saddening defeat, not only for Intel, but for us consumers as well. It means that the Pentium 4 simply didn't work, and that in order for computers to get faster, they have to become more effecient. This means no longer can we take it for granted that we can simply turn up the clockrate and expect more performance, at least, not without cooking our expensive new processors. It means that we've entered a whole new era of computing.
Lastly, Yonah is a landmark chip for Intel; it's a chip that finally reunites the low-end server, the desktop and the laptop on one core design, and it's quite simply one of the most feature-rich, effecient chips ever built (including anything AMD has put out, though the Athlon's are currently faster, the Yohan chip at full tilt produces less heat than the AMD64's do at Idle).
Rejoice, for next year's CPU battle should be a hundred times more entertaining than this years, and finally, finally we might see CPU prices drop again. Maybe I'll finally scrounge up enough money to buy a new machine!
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
There's a ton of literature on this, and plenty of benchmarks from when the original P4s came out that the thunderbird core was more efficent clock for clock than a P4. It was stated from the beginning by Tom's hardware and Ars Technica that the P4 was flawed from the beginning.
That said, I'm buying a Yonah (32 bit) or Merom (64 bit) Powerbook when they're actually shipping (my guess - July or August 2006).
moox. for a new generation.