Core 2 Duo Notebooks Reviewed

An anonymous reader writes "With the launch of Intel's Core 2 Duo chip today, I found this article that not only covers the new chip itself, but also reviews and benchmarks two retail notebooks. It's interesting since one machine has the entry level 1.66GHz CPU while the other has the top end 2.33GHz chip."

Comments

Bottom line?

[gelfling]

So it's a glorified gamer machine? How fast can it start and run Lotus Notes or Thunderbird? How fast can it run a complete AV scan? How well and how fast does it run end to end, real world applications and not just RAM resident games? These benchmarks suck and pretty much ignore the fact that it's a notebook machine at all. And battery life appears to suck hard.

The Verdict

[neonprimetime]

Instead of reading the entire article, here's the summary ...

Verdict

Both of these are impressive machines for anyone who wants to get hold of the power of Merom straight away. The lower clocked AJP does seem slightly lack-lustre compared to the top end Rock, especially as the 1,920 x 1,200 screen wasn't the best we've seen. If battery life is the primary concern you might do better with a Core Duo, due to its lower TDP, unless you can wait for ultra-low voltage Core 2 Duo laptops to appear.

If you can spend the money the T7600 based Rock is outrageously fast for a notebook and it's well specced too. However, we think the mid-rage 2GHz, T7200 will end up being the Merom CPU of choice.

battery life

[Mike_ya]

How does the battery life compare to the 'single core' Pentium M?
Does battery life not matter in laptop reviews anymore?

How is the lap heat, is it twice as hot? My current laptop gets limited lap time because of the heat.

Re:battery life

[Anonymous Coward]

It also says "Times in seconds (lower is better)"

Re:battery life

[TheRaven64]

Tests I have seen show Core 2 laptops having about a 7% longer battery life than their Core 1 counterparts. Part of this is due to the fact that they run faster, and so they spend less time in high-drain mode and more time in power-saving mode.

I know a couple of people with Core 1 MacBook Pros, and they seem to get slightly better battery life than I do with a G4 PowerBook, so I think the Core 2 is promising. Now if only Apple would hurry up and put them in portables, I would give them some money...

Re:Launched today?

[ZachPruckowski]

Core 2 Duo desktop and laptop chips were formally announced in July (the 27th or so). Desktop chips (Conre) were launched then, and started shipping (with models coming out in serious numbers over the last two weeks). Notebook chips (Merom) were "launched" today, which means we can look at pretty benchmarks as Intel starts shipping them out to most OEMs. We will see the processors in computers at stores in a few weeks.

Re:Nomenclature

[ThinkingInBinary]

You are entirely wrong.

So the Intel Core 2 Duo chip, also known as Merom was internally known as Conroe...

No. Merom and Conroe are the notebook and desktop versions, respectively, of the same chip. Merom and Conroe are both the internal names of the chips. Officially, they're both called "Core 2 Duo", and the model numbers distinguish the two series. There are physical differences, including FSB speed and (IIRC) cache architecture.

and is based on the Pentium M 'Banias' mobile chip based out of Haifa.

No. Core Duo is based on the Pentium M Dothan, which was an improved (more cache and higher FSB) version of Banias.

Additionally, the original Core Duo (Yonah) isn't really a Core product,

True. Props to Intel for the dumb naming.

it's just a P4M with two cores.

No! It's a Pentium M with two cores! Big difference! The Pentium 4-M is a pathetic, hot, power-hogging, slow version of the Pentium 4. The Pentium M is based mostly on the Pentium III, and was designed from the ground up to be more efficient per watt.

Core structure actually starts with Core 2 Duo, thus the Core 2 identification?

Yes. structure = microarchitecture.

While I agree, Intel's naming and branding sucks... try not to make it worse!

Don't forget the legal stuff

[suv4x4]

Jesus, check their logo.

intel(r)
core(tm)
inside(tm)

This requires talent. I just hope we don't run out of words we can use seeing how businesses trademark them one by one.

Toshiba's Core 2 Duo

[kkimm]

Just found another review: http://www.hardware.info/en-US/articles/am5na2ptZA /Toshiba_Qosmio_G30_Intel_Core_2_Duo_Mobile_and_HD _DVD__Review/

The Bottom of the Barrel (Executive Summary)

[Gary W. Longsine]

This article tells absolutely nothing useful about the Core 2 platform, but it may have useful bits in it for those who are buzzword hungry. As our sister site reports, the first chip is better than the other chip. Let's have a look at a list comparing features of Chip A and Chip 2.

• first chip - better than some other chips, unless you wait until spring
• chip II - chip C is better than this in all respects, except that a certain chip which may or may not be the second chip or chip 3 is more modern and consumes less heat and is faster
• third chip - designed in a foreign country and better than chip 2 but slower than the second chip
• another chip - better than a chip which is to say not really better, but overwhelmingly not quite as power hungry as chip 1
• a different chip - this is the be-all and end-all of chips off the ol' block, the mother load of chipdom, but not very impressive otherwise as that other chip

Having trouble following me? Oh, gosh! I'm so sorry! As you can see, I'm having some difficulty stringing nouns and verbs together in order which conveys useful meaning. This article is a wedgie bunchy terdhammer pukebucket of crap. This article is a hopeless string of buzz words in a mash-up, probably ripped from an ars technica article or two and cranked back and forth through the Google translator to obscure the source . Don't waste your time reading it.

I hope and desire that reading this really-not-fine-in-any-way article has not permanently affected my linguistic processing ability, although it may be so effected... doh! affected.

Doesn't anybody *screen* these submissions?

Re:The Bottom of the Barrel (Executive Summary)

[nmb3000]

That guy ignore! Real review of article here is:

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This article the usefulness does not inform no matter what at all concerning the platform center 2, perhaps it possesses that useful bit for those which is hungry special language that. Because us the report of the place of the sisters, is better than the first fragment other fragment. It probably will have glance with the list which compares the feature of fragment a and fragment 2.

• First when the fragment - it does not wait to the spring, improve than the fragment which has other things
  
• Chip II - chip C this compared to compared to recovers with all directions, being instead of second chip or chip 3 intelligence the map which will not be the specific chip which it does not know today and compared to the enemy consumes ten and it is quicker
  
• It becomes design from the foreign nation and 3rd the chip - and second the chip than folds and it cuts smaller 2 to improve it sees but it is slower
  
• The different chip - with chip 1 by hungry force compared to it recovers with realness and it talks and the chip which is for compared to improves but overwhelmingly positively
  
• The different chip - this when it is not like that, all, the different chip with the fact that it is impressed quite together but chipdom mother burden ol block falling chips end all, and so
  

There is a trouble which follows me? Oh, Oh! Me quite sensibility be! The possibility you seeing the broad way which is, me the order broad way what kind of to be young bud which conveys meaning which is useful ties the personage and freezing to death together and. This article wedgie of the trash is terdhammer pukebucket where it is convex. This article is to chain every hour comfort which is not hope of popular saying, Iri it is torn like that and probably ars technica articles or in order to do darkly from 2 origin Google interpretations which the crank attach it leads and. It it does not waste you timely reading to dry.

I do not know and so brought about... as many as doh logs i hope and the fact that it reads the what kind of method article from under the precision which is not this realness is Yongwon and to my language processing ability and the thing effect do not go mad i want! where Effect it received.

The troublesome army song submits *screen*?

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Mod the tubes it will kick and power Insightful is this post!

Re:Nomenclature

[dfghjk]

I find it interesting that people readily accept the notion that Pentium M is a derivative of the PIII while Core 2 is somehow distinct from Core or Pentium M. The Pentium M was developed years after the PIII, was specifically developed for portables, was created by an entirely different design team, used the bus of the P4 and had significant architectural differences when compared to PIII. The Core 2, meanwhile, is an immediate follow-on of Core, just as Core was a follow-on of Pentium M, is architecturally similar and even shares a pinout with Core in the case of Merom. To claim that Core 2 is the first "Core architecture" product is arbitrary and more absurd than claiming that Pentium M is a new version of PIII, yet that seems to be what's floated around here. Each processor is a new design effort that benefits from designs that came before it. Naming is simply marketing BS.

Infinite loop??

[bingo_cannon]

How much time does it take to finish an infinite loop? Did they say that?

Re:A tale of the Dell XPS Line

[Ignignot]

Hello, astroturf. Who the hell knows the model numbers of their friend's laptops??? Is there some sort of organized place where slashdotters can identify astroturfers like this?