Intel Core i7 For Laptops — First Benchmarks 196
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."
battery life? (Score:5, Informative)
compared to? Because from the graphs the core2duo had much better battery life, and core2duo battery life sucks imho. Wish they'd focus more on improving the battery life of two cores because 4 cores in a laptop is overkill 99% of the time, I'd rather have a extra hour of battery life and suffice with two cores.
Re:Idle power consumption (Score:5, Informative)
Intel always had the lead in manufacturing capability, and it seems that this is one of the nice results.
This time it's little to do with their manufacturing capability in terms of process size, it's R&D specifically to achieve this. They basicly created a new "shut-off" form of transistor that effectively blocks off everything behind it. You can read more about it here [anandtech.com].
Re:Turbo Boost technology? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Battery life (Score:3, Informative)
Re:macbook pro? (Score:1, Informative)
Apple has gotten a several new Intel procs before anyone else. The OS and most OS X apps can actually take good advantage of quad core right now unlike Windows. That and 8GB of ram with an SSD will be really nice and we can expect it to be available soon.
Re:Turbo Boost technology? (Score:3, Informative)
FWIW, Turbochargers ARE superchargers; they are just turbine-driven. Turbine-driven superchargers are far more efficient than gear or belt-driven superchargers; they use waste energy to compress the air and aside from variable-vane/variable nozzle turbines, turbochargers' efficiency are usually confinued to a narrow exhaust CFM (in essence, RPM) range.
The reason "superchargers" (referring to mechanically-driven) are preferred for some applications is that they are directly coupled to the engine's speed, so there is no lag time. If a turbocharger were used in say, top fuel racing, the size requirements and the turbo lag would make turbochargers woefully impractical. With mechanically-driven superchargers the crew chief and engineers will know EXACTLY when boost will come on despite atmospheric pressure, temperature, and so forth, and there is near-zero lag. Also, the torque curve can be much broader/less peaky than a turbocharger.
They (mechanically-driven superchargers) are grossly inefficient because some superchargers used in, say, top fuel, require over 700hp just to turn them, but at the scale that those engines operate (over 6500hp now) 700hp isn't much of a concern. On the street is is a higher concern, such that some cars which have had superchargers over the years were actually clutched (such as the Mk1 MR2) so they weren't creating parasitic drag during normal driving conditions.
Turbochargers do not have much parasitic drag under normal driving conditions so they are more practical for the street since CAFE and emissions regulations are a concern. Also, there are some street-legal C4 and C5 Corvettes with 800-1200hp; what kind of supercharging do the highest-output tuner cars have? Turbochargers, be the cars from Lingenfelter, Hennessey, or some others. There are some other create tuners that do only mechanically-driven superchargers and the torque curve may come on much earlier, but on average their advertised peak power output is much lower.