by Anton Shilov
05/15/2007 | 11:58 PM
Following the demand towards high-performance mobile computers for gamers and workstation users, Intel Corp. reportedly plans to introduce its first Core 2 Extreme processors for notebooks this September. The introduction will allow the company to address the demands for speedy notebooks during back-to-school and holiday seasons.
Earlier it was expected that the world’s largest maker of x86 central processing units (CPUs) is set to introduce its first code-named Merom XE processor in the second quarter of the year, along with the new Intel Centrino Duo mobile platform code-named Santa Rosa, and then refresh the “extreme” mobile chip in the fourth quarter. However, the company, according to sources familiar with its plans, decided to release the new chips in Q3 2007, possibly because of the marketing reasons, as not a lot of performance-demanding users will be acquiring new notebooks in summer.
This September Intel is expected to unveil the Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 and X7900 chips with 2.60GHz and 2.80GHz clock-speeds respectively as well as 4MB cache and 800MHz processor system bus (PSB). The new chips will have two processing engines and the model X7800 will cost $851 at launch.
The main difference between typical Intel Core 2 Duo processors for mobile computers and Intel Core 2 Extreme for laptops will be the clock-speed and positioning, as the latter are likely to find themselves in fully-fledged laptops with large screens, powerful graphics processors and high-speed memory. Besides, the Core 2 Extreme for mobile will also not feature Intel Dynamic Acceleration technology, which allows to shut down one of the two cores when it is not needed, while pushing up frequency of the other one.
It is interesting to note that Intel will not introduce any more Core 2 Extreme processors with two cores for desktops, but will concentrate on launching higher-speed quad-core chips for “extreme” computing needs of gamers and workstation users.
In fact, the world’s largest producer of x86 central processing units (CPUs) is already shipping special Intel Core 2 Duo T7600G processors with unlocked multiplier and processor system bus speeds to personal computer makers planning who want to offer their customers some additional performance by pre-overclocking the microprocessors in their notebooks. One of machines – Area-51 m5790 Special Edition – is available from Alienware right now. Moreover, in the past computer makers, such as Dell, even installed Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors into their laptops. It yet remains unclear whether notebook makers will also pre-overclock the Core 2 Extreme processors for mobile computers.
Officials for Intel Corp. did not comment on the news-story.