Quad core laptops have generally been received with mixed reviews, we all knew they were coming, but up until now they used pretty much standard processors, which meant lots of heat and low battery life.
Specs
This is where the new laptop quad core processors come in, currently there will be a choice of two chips, the i7-840QM and the i7-740QM.
The 840 has the higher specification of the two offering an 8mb cache and a standard clock speed of 1.86ghz, with boost technology of up to 3.2ghz.
The 740 has a 6mb cache and runs at a standard speed of 1.73ghz with boost up to 2.93ghz.
Both chips will have a power draw of around 45 watts making them more efficient than just about any other processor, this equates to around 11 watts per core, compared to 40 watts for an average dual core laptop processor which equates to around 20 watts per core.
Benefits?
What’s going to be the real benefits of the newer laptop quad core processors ?
Multiple processors
As the actual die of the processor will have 4 cores it will in effect have 4 separate processors this is great for any applications that support this.
Westmere Microarchitecture
One of the most eagerly awaited features of the newer laptop quad core processors has been the Westmere Microarchitecture; this allows the graphics processor and CPU to share the same chip which allows for much better graphics performance together with even further power savings.
Multi Threading
Each core can run two independent threads, which means the ability to run 8 threads at the same time, which gives big advantages when simultaneously running multiple tasks
The good and the bad
Will the new ranges of Quad core laptops make a big difference for the average user?
Personally I think not, the reason for this is the average user (myself included) run Windows with basic Ms Office use, Internet, Email and maybe the odd small game.
Pretty much all of this will not really be enhanced by using any quad core laptops as the current architecture is not really pushed to its limit.
After speaking to a number of colleagues many have said “I’d probably not make the most of the boost capabilities so I could not really justify the cost of a machine with one of the newer laptop quad core processors”
As with most current computers the big bottle neck is usually the hard drive, and replacing a standard SATA type with a much fast SSD (solid state disk) will usually provide more noticeable performance loading applications and files etc.
If we take someone such as a hard core gamer, developer or anyone needing a true desktop replacement then yes the new range of laptop quad core processors will make a tremendous difference for you.
Read more on quad core laptops
computer adviser quad core laptops article