News Bits: Intel Merom Date Slips, New ATI Catalyst Drivers, Laptop Music Competitions

Intel Merom pushed back to Q4 06

Another delay with Intel's successor to the current Core Duo processor, the Merom, has pushed back its release date to Q4. Intel's chief reasoning for pushing back the release date is because consumers are already confused about all the new technology being introduced -- throwing more at them in a short amount of time will add to it.

Four models will be available initially:

• T7600 -- 2.33GHz, $640
• T7400 -- 2.16GHz, $420
• T7200 -- 2.0GHz, $295
• T5600 -- 1.83GHz, $240

All have 4MB L2 caches and are dual-core, with the exception of the T5600, which is single core and has a 2MB L2. Budget Merom-based Celeron M's are also expected to come out, along with an Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) model.

It is interesting to note that even though Merom includes 64-bit support and supposedly all the latest technologies, it still incorporates the aging Front Side Bus technology, versus a much faster and more efficent HyperTransport-like technology as currently found in AMD64 chips. Whether or not using an FSB will have an impact on performance is unknown.

More: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29605

ATI Catalyst Mobility 6.2 Out

ATI has released its new Mobility Catalyst drivers -- to download them, follow the direct link:

Download Link

It adds fixes for several popular games such as BF2 and WoW, but the unique addition of this driver set is the wizard-like interface for the Catalyst Control Center.

More: http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/02/10/catalyst62/

"IBM" Logos on ThinkPads

Although the ThinkPad line of notebooks has been sold to Lenovo, the IBM logo still remains on them over one year later. As part of an agreement between IBM and Lenovo, the logos will remain for another four years.

The IBM logo as seen above on a ThinkPad will remain for at least 4 more years, despite Lenovo now owning and producingthe ThinkPad brand

More: http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/02/10/lenovo_thinkpad/

"Laptop Deathmatch" -- Laptops Used to CreateMusic and Compete

Ever used your laptop to create music? No, not mix music you've created on a real instrument, but to really use your laptop as a primaryinstrument? A contest in Dallas called "Laptop Deathmatch" held the second Sunday of every month pits local musicians there against one another, the rule being you must use a laptop and one external device (midi- controller, etc) to create the music. This trend is becoming more and more popular and competitions now exist around the country.

More: http://www.laptopdeathmatch.com/

A musician competes at Laptop Deathmatch in Dallas Texas

Acer Unseats Toshiba as #3 in Worldwide Notebook Shipments

Acersurpassed Toshiba as the world's No. 3 notebook brand in Q4 2005, with 66.7% year-on-year growth - the highest among the top-five notebook vendors, according to preliminary data from Gartner Dataquest. Acer notebooks ranked No. 1in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), and No. 3 in Asia Pacific with 117.1% growth, the highest among the top-ten vendors. However, Acer still is not in the top 5notebook brandsin the U.S., they are making agressive stridesin that country though with a 202% increase in notebook shipments in the U.S. between 2004 and 2005.

Q4 2005Worldwide Notebook Shipments

Position	Brand	Market Share	Growth (YoY
1	Dell	17.1%	50.9%
2	HP	16.5%	41.8%
3	Acer	12.2%	66.7%
4	Toshiba	10.5%	20.9%
5	Fujitsu	8.1%	18.0%

 

no surprise on the Merom date, it was hard to believe they'd ship in September, and with the Nov/Dec date it coincides better with Vista and gives consumers a chance to take a breath and not get confused by yet more processor releases. The downside for Intel is that it gives AMD a chance to sneak in there with the first dual core 64-bit release -- we'll see

That IBM branding is going to keep the confusion going with Lenovo ThinkPads. It's understandable why they want the slow change, their customer base are conservative business people. And, when you think about it, HP should've dropped the Compaq brand long ago after bought them out, but 4 years later it seems they have no intention of doing so. In the end, it really creates confusion IMHO :-/

 

About this Merom item. It even may slip another quarter, to Q1/07 instead of Q4/06

 

I would be surprised if there is no dual core 64-bit enabled CPU by X-mas 06, if not Intel then AMD.

Besides MS Vista & Office-64 bit & some higher end graphics programs how much 64-bit software will be around by this time?

Given MS & Intel & OEM/brand relations it would be surprising if these 64-bit elements don't come together by Holiday Buying December Season 06.

I also hope to see more surprises & options from AMD to shake things up.

 

We'll see. I did read at digitimes.com (see http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060208A7034.html) it's maybe possible that it's going to be March 2007 introduction, instead of Q4/06. But The Inquirer says Merom is still on track to be introduced in Q4 (see http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29563)
I don't bother. I don't really need 64-bit or whatever advantage Santa Rosa/Merom has over Napa (as far as they are known atm).

 

hurayy..

at least, AMD have a little bit more chance to strike Intel back.

I expect that new Turion would release soon.

 

Yeah, the Compaq line needs to be dropped IMO - in addition to adding confusion, they are the same things as HP. It would be more cost efficent for HP to just have one lineup.

Lenovo wants to keep that logo on the Thinkpads, I guess because they have such a nice reputation. But, it will be dropped eventually, I'll be interested to see how the Thinkpads look then.

Yep, AMD is going under the radar here, can't wait to see how the dual-core Turion is going to perform.

 

Only Reason Merom is delayed as yonah needs time in the market. Its going to be march b4 yonah really takes off and u don't want it replaced too soon. Merom will release Q4 on Napa platform and late Q1/Early Q2 more exciting Santa Rosa platform will release.

Dothan/Yonah are great performers despite FSB technology, Merom going by all the news so far will scorch yonah. So I don't see Turion beating it.

Also there is still no news on when Taylor (Turion X2) is releasing. If it does not release b4 Merom, Its acceptance would suffer.

 

From what I've heard, Merom ULV Pentium Ms will give battery life in the tens of hours.

 

So if we have a high end Sonoma notebooks(1.86GHz and up) there is no reason to upgrade to Yonah/Napa platform. We all shall wait for Merom. My Toshiba A80 Sonoma is quite new. I bought it about 3months ago. Anyone who have sonoma notebooks for 3 months wont buy Yonah soon.