News Bits: Intel Quad Core Notebook Processor, Intel Announcements at IDF, Alienware Laptop with 640GB

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Intel quad-core notebook CPU coming in Q3 '08

Intel plans to launch a quad-core notebook CPU in the third quarter of 2008 according to a DigiTimes report. During the first half of next year Intel will launch eleven new 45nm processors.

Specifications of the quad-core CPU include a 1066MHz front side bus, 12MB L2 cache, and 45W maximum TDP. Intel noted that most Montevina notebooks will not support the CPU; it will only be offered in Extreme versions.

Intel announced model numbers of the rive 45nm CPUs in the Santa Rosa refresh. The Santa Rosa refresh is slated to launch in January 2008.

Model	X9000	T9500	T9300	T8300	T8100
Clockspeed	2.8GHz	2.6GHz	2.5GHz	2.4GHz	2.1GHz
Price in 1000 unit qtys	$851	$530	$316	$241	$209

Penryn will acount for almost half (47%) of the total notebook CPU shipments in Q2 2008.


Intel announces more Santa Rosa Refresh, Montevina details

Intel has released more details about the upcoming Santa Rosa Refresh at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). The Refresh will include Penryn processors using 45nm technology and improved graphics. The Penryn processor will allow for more performance with increased efficiency.

Intel also released more details about the upcoming Montevina platform, which will be released in the middle of next year. It will feature the Cantiga chipset, which supports DDR3 memory, and an option for integrated WiMAX. Expect smaller and lighter notebooks to hit the market - Montevina's parts are 40 percent smaller than Santa Rosa's.

Read More (Laptoping.com)


MSI introduces YA Edition notebook

MSI today took the covers off of its new 12-inch widescreen PR210 YA Edition notebook. It has several color choices, including Denim Blue, Coral Pink, and Lime Green. According to the general manager of MSI USA Daniel Wang, the PR210 YA Edition, &quot;this laptop offers consumers a way to stand out from the crowd and express their individual flair.&quot;
Key features of the notebook include a fingerprint reader, HDMI, AMD Athlon X2 Mobile processor, and DVD burner. It weighs only 3.96 pounds with battery.

Specifications are as follows:

• 12.1-inch widescreen ACV (Amazing Crystal Vision) display
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-53 (1.7GHz) processor
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• ATI Radeon Xpress 1270 chipset
• 120GB SATA HDD
• 802.11b/g WLAN
• HDMI output
• DVD Super Multi drive
• Built-in Bluetooth
• Built-in 1.3 MP webcam
• Fingerprint reader
• 4-in-1 card reader
• Windows Vista Home Premium

Read More (BusinessWire.com)


Alienware notebooks set new high for hard drive capacity

Alienware today announced they are the first notebook manufacturer to offer the new 320GB Samsung notebook hard drive. It is available in RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations in the Area-51 M9750 and Aurora M9700 notebooks. With two drives up to 640GB of hard drive space is available.

Read More (BusinessWire.com)


HP expects notebook shipments to grow faster than industry

HP has stated that it expects its total notebook shipments to grow faster than the industry itself, which is currently projected to be 28%.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


Dell simplifies recycling for small businesses

Dell has committed itself to further strengthening its stance on protecting the environment by making it easier for small business customers to manage, return, and track unwanted assets. Dell has started a new online product recovery and recycling service

Learn More

More information on Dell's environmental programs

Pinnacle intros HD USB TV tuner

(view large image)

Pinnale has introduced the PCTV HD Ultimate USB stick, which gives users the ability to watch TV by simply plugging it in. It has an antenna to pick up ATSC digital TV signals and also picks up NTSC analog. No software is required to use it. The device even has a built-in flash memory bank which stores up to two hours of content. It will go on sale for $130 retail in October; the desktop version will be $80.

Read More (Engadget.com)

 

Interesting news on the quad-core front.

I wonder how that HD-OTA tuner can work without software...they mean that you can use WMP?

 

quad core with 45tdp??? thats sursprising; considering the current one has 95tdp or something. thats less than half the TDP!

 

Actually, its a 105W TDP for the current Q6600. However, thats a desktop processor, whereas the 45W TDP is coming for a mobile quadcore.

I personally think the best thing to do is get a Santa Rosa notebook, upgrade to a Penryn CPU next summer, and wait it out until Nehalem hits. Nehalem represents a number of awesome advancements, including the elimination of the FSB (Quick Connect ftw) and an on-die memory controller.

 

45W TDP is not that hard for them to do. They've got a 2.33GHz quad core Cloverton with a 1333MHz FSB using the 65nm process with a 50W TDP for servers. In light of that with a 1067MHz FSB, the new 45nm process, and specific mobile optimizations, a 45W TDP shouldn't be that difficult at all. It still probably doesn't have the yields for the mass market though, which is why they are hand picked Extreme Editions instead. Most of the best chips are probably going to LV Xeons where the need and margins are higher.

 

Is it just me or does the Santa Rosa refresh not seem overwhelming? The $241 T7500 (2.2 GHz) will go to 2.4 GHz, and the $316 T7700 will go from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz. And the T9500 seems to be the same as the T7800, in price and speed. Same for X9000 and X7900.

I'm assuming something else will be changing, as it's not FSB perhaps L2 cache? Or new technology (such as Dynamic Acceleration was to Santa Rosa)? Or is it simply less power consumption that will be the bonus of the new processors? Hehe, I'd rather have the same power consumption and higher speeds given the power consumption limits we've already achieved, but perhaps I'm in the minority.

edit: Now that I think of it, Santa Rosa in itself wasn't exactly overwhelming, either.

 

Actually, its getting Penryn processors, which are die-shrunk versions of the current Santa Rosa chips. This means a lower TDP, better battery life, less heat, and cheaper to produce. Its gonna end up giving around 10% performance increase at best, so nothing groundbreaking. They are saving that for Nehalem.

 

Unfortunately, the TDP is still too high for these cpu's to really affect the battery life in any remarkable way. The older mobile Core Duo as well as older Pentium M's had lower TDP's. Intel continues to improve power consumption when the cpu is idle, which is nice, but it doesn't really count since you probably want to do some work with your laptop AND have long battery life. Still, it is going in the right direction.

 

TDP != power consumption!
and g0 q6600 tdp is 95w..

Cache is going to bumped upto 6MB from 4M and 3Mb from 2M..
Also there is a new deeper sleep state (c6) in penryn as i remember
+ 5 to 10% IPC improvement..

 

http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Intel_Adds_25W_Penryn_CPUs/5184.html

If you want lower TDP, you'll have to wait for Montevina. The 1067MHz Penryn refresh will come in both 35W and 25W versions. The 25W MV versions should still be socket based compared to the long existing LV and ULV line which are soldered on the board.

 

When will nahelm hit the shelves?

 

Nehalem is expected to hit shelves in late 2008, but it will likely be a limited release like Penryn. The full roll-out will follow in the first quarter of 2009.

 

Thats probably when I will go to the store shevles, to buy a new notebook! would they have the Nvidia 9 series mobile out by then? And what will be the prce drops in notebooks by then?(For example a High end sony?)

 

man I can't wait to pickup a montevina notebook.

 

I hope Intel will let us determine the minimum voltage of the processor, like they did for pentium m.

 

Yes you are correct.I'm going to upgrade my processor to T9300(2.5Ghz) Next year.

 

Amazing how quickly my notebook(s) are out of date!

The T9500 is pointless. 100MHz extra over the T9300 with the same FSB and cache for $200 more. Why?

Also there seems to be a shift to higher clock speeds again. With the Pentium-M The mainstay were 1.6-1.8GHz verions with 2.0 and above being rarer. Now we;re heading up towards 3GHz again.

 

That's why i choose T9300.

 

platform has not much to do with tdp of uP..

 

what happened to AMD? For the sake of competition, AMD, please do something!!!!

 

Are any of these processors running on the same socket as the original Core Duo? They might make a nice upgrade sometime if possible.

 

Quick question on the pctv tuner. If I connect it to my direct tv box, will it get a good picture?

 

AMD is secretly working on their 4x4 quad-cores....

Expect to see Clevo to come out with a D900C version with AMD Phenom X4.

As for the HDD, the D900C has 3 internal HDDs..:
320GB x 3 = 960GB

 

The Phenom X4 won't be as good as the Penryn quads. Heck, it barely touches Conroe....I think AMD is out of the picture at this point.

 

Penryn will ultimately feature 25TDP on some of the processors, while Core Duo was at 31TDP.

Therefore, the TDP will go down, and will be lower than Core Duo. Not higher.

- AnandTech's review of Phenom.

Don't expect much from AMD's quads unless we see a major revision.

 

Yes! I read it ,but i think it's too early to make a conclusion about phenom AKA 4x4 .......

BTW I'm not a AMD Fan boy