Retaliation
As the two major CPU-makers ready themselves for their next generation hybrid CPU/GPUs, the jostling for position continues unabated. Last week AMD launched some new desktop CPUs and this week Intel has responded with a bunch of new mobile ones.
As with AMD the new Intel CPUs are incremental improvements. Among the highlights are a new high-end dual core mobile processor: the 2.80GHz i7-640M, and some new i5s, ULVs and Celerons.
You will notice that the two new i5s appear to have exactly the specs, but are separated $41. We believe the difference lies in the extent of the Turbo Boost increase in frequency, which peaks at 3.2GHz for the 560 and 3.33GHz for the 580. We haven't had this confirmed by Intel yet.
Incidentally, the new ULV processors have already been used by Acer in its latest Aspire TimelineX thin-and-light notebooks. The catchily named 1830T-68U118 was launched in the US today and costs $899 if you want an i7-680UM, but you can go down to $599 with a basic configuration including a cheaper CPU.
| Name |
L2 cache (MB) |
Cores |
Threads |
Speed (GHz) |
Price ($) |
| i7-640M |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2.80 |
346 |
| i5-580M |
3 |
2 |
4 |
2.66 |
266 |
| i5-560M |
3 |
2 |
4 |
2.66 |
225 |
| i7-660LM |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2.26 |
346 |
| i7-680UM |
4 |
2 |
4 |
1.46 |
317 |
| i5-560UM |
3 |
2 |
4 |
1.33 |
250 |
| P4600 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2.00 |
86 |
| T3500 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2.10 |
80 |
