Intel Core 2 Duo / Quad Core / Core 2 Extreme Etc.

[torrenova]

I see some laptops (not interested in PCs here) have these new chips. Core 2 Duo seems to be the mainstay but what about these Quad Core and Extreme variants ?

As per http://www.intel.com/cd/products/services/...sors/322916.htm

Are these the new thing and Core 2 Duo is obsolete or will be soon ?

Don't want to really buy totally outdated stuff next week.

Any ideas ?

Edited September 9, 2008 by torrenova

[dave_boo]

I see some laptops (not interested in PCs here) have these new chips. Core 2 Duo seems to be the mainstay but what about these Quad Core and Extreme variants ?

As per http://www.intel.com/cd/products/services/...sors/322916.htm

Are these the new thing and Core 2 Duo is obsolete or will be soon ?

Don't want to really buy totally outdated stuff next week.

Any ideas ?

I have yet to see a Socket T (478) Quad Core or Extreme Core2 chip. Meaning that if you get one of those laptops you're getting a desktop chip in a laptop package. Now that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but if you're expecting to get good battery life out of such a laptop you're fooling yourself.

All three of those chips are based on the Core architecture. And currently there's a very limited set of programs that can take advantage of more than 2 cores. So no, your new purchase with 'only' a Core2 Duo will last you quite a long time. If I could recommend going with a laptop that uses a T9*** or a T8*** I'd reckon you'd be much happier over the long run. Both those series use the 45 nm manufacturing process as opposed to the T5*** and the T7**** series. Thus they run slightly cooler even at higher clock speeds. Battery life is improved slightly due to more multipliers that allows the SpeedStep to function better.

Also, the T8*** and T9*** offer more cache. The 8 series offers 3 MB and the 9 series offers 6 MB.

Technically there's a new architecture coming out soon, the Centrino 2; but if you were to wait for the next cycle you'd always be waiting.

[torrenova]

Thanks dave for your help on this and the other posts. Much appreciated.

[dave_boo]

Thanks dave for your help on this and the other posts. Much appreciated.

Awwwh, sucks, you made me blush.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[torrenova]

I've been fannying around on this purchase for too long and the only reason is because I know nothing about the dam_n things (or I didn't). Now I've got to make sure I don't make an arse of myself and buy a bloody lemon !

[spacemunk]

Dell offers glimpse of monster quad-core laptop

In addition to the first mobile quad-core CPU, the machine - dubbed the M6400 - will support up to 16GB of main memory - and 1GB for the on-board but unnamed GPU. Or GPUs - multiple components seem the name of the game here: it'll also take a pair of hard drives with a total capacity of 1TB.

Now this is a monster. It sure will drain the crap outta the battery.

Edited September 10, 2008 by cgbartz