Intel brings Core 2 Duo technology to laptops

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 29 Aug 2006 at 11:03

Intel has brought its Core 2 Duo technology to laptops, with the release of its 'Merom' processor. The energy efficient dual-core chips, which are based on Intel's new micro-architecture, have been released in mobile form, as part of the new 'Centrino Duo' platform.

The desktop equivalent - 'Conroe' - was released back in July, with promises of a 40 percent increase in performance while being 40 percent more energy efficient than its predecessors.

The new models feature up to 4MB of level 2 cache, a 667 MHz FSB and range in clock speeds from 2.33GHz down to 1.66GHz.

'In just one year we've taken extraordinary leaps in mobile and desktop computing with the launch of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor,' declared the senior VP of Intel's Mobility Group, David Perlmutter. 'For laptops the new processor has doubled the performance, giving consumers and businesses an immersive mobile experience while keeping power consumption and battery life unchanged.'

In addition to the dual-core processing, the Core 2 Duo chips feature 'Wide Dynamic Execution' (to deliver more instructions per clock cycle), 'Smart Memory Access' (accelerate out-of-order instruction execution), and 'Advanced Smart Cache' (where the shared L2 cache is dynamically allocated to each processor core based on workload, to improve efficiency).

The 'dual-core' offering is two independent processor cores in one physical package, running at the same frequency and sharing up to 4 MB of L2 cache. There is also support for Intel VT (virtualisation technology), EM64T and the execute disable bit, which allows memory to be marked as non-executable to better provide virus protection.

Included in the new Centrino Duo trinity - Intel's official 'platform' for mobile computing - is the current Intel 945 Express chipset family and the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG network connection, as well as the Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

In terms of pricing and availability for the new mobile releases, the T7600, T7400, T7200, T5600 and T5500 versions are priced at $637, $423, $294, $241 and $209 respectively, based on 1,000-unit quantities.

Check out the PC Pro reviews of mobile Core 2 Duo-based machines: the Rock Xtreme CTX Pro and the Hi-Grade Ultinote D6000-2002.