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."

Comments

As for the laptop itself

[FireballX301]

Other than the newfangled dual core processor everything else is kinda marginal. XP Home? 512 mb? Not for 2000 USD.

As a serious question though, who's going to be doing renders and such where dual cores really shine, on a laptop? Can anyone tell me applications of dual core for a on-the-go computer?

More on that

[mnemonic_]

"Reliable sources have further confirmed recently to Think Secret that new iBooks and Mac minis--as well as iPod shuffles--will debut at Macworld Expo San Francisco next month. Apple's new Mac mini and iBook are expected to be among the first--if not the first--systems to feature Intel's new mobile processor, code-named Yonah."

Re:More on that

[NixLuver]

I know someone already pointed out that your objection about the powerBOOKS is at least reasonable, although "smoke" is subjective and, actually, blatantly inaccurate as stated - A $2500 X86 laptop is probably faster than my 17" Powerbook. However, I have to point out that there is nothing in the X86 worldview that will beat the Powermacs, dollar-for-MIP. Particularly the $3200 Quad (dual dual core) 64 bit G5 PowerMac. It's also fairly difficult to beat the iMac (although it can be matched) G5's dollar-for-mip, at $1700 for a 64 bit machine with a 20" wide-screen LCD included.

I, for one, can't wait to see what Apple might offer to compete with the existing G5 machines. I also can't wait to see what they're going to do with the PowerBook. On the other hand, I'm saving now to get another G5 before they switch the desktops. I dont' want an Intel Mac until all of the software I use on a daily basis has been rebuilt as "Fat" binaries.

I expect the Yonah based laptops to be fairly impressive with native binaries, although I expect that Rosetta will remain an emergency-only Kludge, like VirtualPC. Regardless, I'll also be interested to see apples-and-apples type comparisons of Mac apps vs their Windows versions... will Photoshop on Mac Intel be slower or faster than Photoshop on Windows on the *same hardware*?

Re:More on that

[Guspaz]

A lack of support for a platform that doesn't currently exist in retail isn't exactly a big deal. Besides, Rosetta (a rebranded version of Transitive's incredibly impressive QuickTransit emulator) has made big gains over the past few months, and it isn't even out in retail yet.

Sure, some apps are not going to run incredibly well under Rosetta, but when you consider that we're talking about going from a slow single-core G4 (first Mactels will be notebooks, it seems) to a speedy dual-core Yonah, I think that the immense performance increase in raw processing power will help offset some of the slowdown due to the emulation. And the emulation results I saw were already impressive BEFORE Rosetta got any improvements, and that was on a single-core P4.

Re:More on that

[Golias]

As buggy as 10.4 is on a ppc

*boggle*

10.4 on PPC Macs is perhaps the least-buggy OS it has ever been my pleasure to witness. I've got multiple systems running it, and have yet to see a crash, either on my systems or anybody else's.

If you consider it "buggy", what is your other computer that does better? An abacus!?

Serious number crunching on the go

[emarkp]

I work for a company that produces software for radiation simulation for oncology. We need as much power as possible for our apps. Right now we run our systems on dual-package dual-core AMD systems. Laptop solutions are important because many of our users work at multiple clinics and have to take their planning solutions on the road.

So we'll be buying some of these just about the instant they come out.

Question

[adachan]

Maybe I am wrong, but shouldn't laptop CPU use less power than a desktop CPU? Why is this comparison being made?

Re:The company that can mass spin

[justsomebody]

Not exactly like that, although there is a lot of truth in what you said. Where you where wrong? Nowhere. Better question is "What you forgot to mention".

A lot of code consists with memory block moving (and those are the most time cunsuming parts usualy too). This happens a lot faster on 64-bit (register is larger and you move larger block in one cycle). Every time you move or reallocate memory. For example, string functions are mostly this kind of logic. Then another one it is mapping one bitmap over another (or a simple cpy) for example. Even searches can be optimized for 64-bit pattern (Larger pattern, less steps, less cycles).