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Intel Core i7 For Laptops — First Benchmarks
Barence writes "PC Pro has benchmarked the first Intel Core i7 processors for laptops. The chips mark the debut of Intel's Turbo Boost technology, which ramps up the speed of the working cores if two or more cores are sitting unused. For the quad-core i7-820QM, this can take the stock speed of 1.73GHz up to a maximum of 3.06GHz. The 2D benchmarks show comparable performance to Core 2 Extreme chips running at 2.53GHz. Power consumption and processor temperature is dramatically lower, which should lead to significant improvements in laptop battery life."
They used up all their creativity coming up with "i7-820QM".
Lots of people use their laptop as their only machine. In that case it's helpful to have a device that can sip power when away from the mains but whilst plugged in can run with the big dogs.
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
wouldn't burn my lap and my balls whenever I have to sit them on my laps.
LAPS? I've heard of multiple chins, but LAPS?
Probably the same people who came up with USB 3's "SuperSpeed mode".
Apparently marketing is now in the hands of 11-year old boys.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Seriously, couldn't the marketing droids come up with a better name?
Sadly, this technology was called "Intel Dynamic Acceleration" (IDA) in Core-2 CPU's, but nobody noticed it. So, Intel tried with "Dual Dynamic Acceleration" (DDA), but again, nobody noticed. At last, renamed it to "Turbo Boost" and now everybody thinks it's something new.
So, after three attempts, it seems that the current name is the best.
Maybe because (from what I can tell), IDA and DDA only boosted one core by ~200 MHz or less, TFS suggests that Turbo Boost can take one core of a 1.73 GHz chip to 3.06 GHz, which is substantially better. Maybe that's why people are noticing now?
Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
How about pairing one of these with an Intel Atom? The atom turns on cores within the Core I7 when it is pegged, and turns them off (potentially turning off the entire chip) when things quiet down.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Seriously, couldn't the marketing droids come up with a better name?
No problemo!
Turbo Boost+ //e)
Turbo Boost xTreme!
iTurbo Boost
Turbo Boost ][+ (or
Turb0 B005t - L33t 3d1t10n
Turbo Boost 3000
Turbo Boost 3000++ Gold Pro Enterprise Edition...For Kids
Intel Marketing Deparment: We Look for Things. Things to Make Us Go.
No, what I am saying is you can't have both without making some manner of compromise at the moment.
There's currently no real incentive for Intel to make more energy-efficient Core 2 Duos because the market -is- very segmented between those who are perfectly fine with the Core 2 Duos as they are (fairly powerful and reasonable battery life, though not fo true mobility), and those who really need longer battery life and are on the go a lot, who are fine with a netbook using a Core 2 Solo or Atom (or any of the AMD equivalents) processor.
Of course it -is- possible to get something in between, but you have to accept (unless you have millions to pursuade Intel otherwise ahead of any schedule they might have to introduce a more efficient platforms after all) that it is a fairly niche market.
Companies do cater to that niche market, however; Lenovo, for example. The Lenovo T400 runs a nice Core 2 Duo. Its battery life is a bit above that of the average notebook - but you -can- even extend that by upgrading from a 4-cell (~4 hours) to a 6-cell or even a 9-cell battery (~10 hours) and go beyond that if you add the external bay battery.
Take the figures with a pinch of the usual 'battery life claims' salt and you should still be very comfortable with the 9-cell w/o bay battery.
No, adding batteries doesn't make the platform more efficient, but it -is- the next best thing available right now, especially if the desire is for 'longer battery life' and not necessarily a more efficient platform.