Laptops got a hell of a lot faster today. We’ve been waiting for Intel to bring out its mobile version of Core i7 and today it did. The benchmarks are in and they say it’s fast. Really freaking fast.
Just like the Core i7 chip for desktops, the mobile version (formerly called Clarksfield) is meant for handling heavy computing tasks — gaming, video editing, and other programs that require faster processing speed.
What makes the chips so fast and oh so capable? The quad-core family of processors use Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology, which can accelerate the processor clock speed up to 75 percent when you need more power. Basically the processor will change the clock speed depending on your power consumption, the processor temperature and the number of cores being used. That is just a primer and we promise to have a more in depth Giz Explains soon.
But what does it all mean in terms of improvement? LAPTOP Magazine found out that the fastest 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7 920QM CPU (there are two other versions with lower clock speeds) “shredded through every benchmark record” in the books. When tested against other dual core and quad core laptops the Core i7 model tore it up every time. It wrecked the synthetic benchmarks, but also cut down video transcoding times and kicked ass on frame rates while playing Far Cry 2. Hit up the link below for more detailed charts and scores.
You will have your choice of Core i7 mobile lappies with ones arriving today coming soon from Dell, Toshiba, ASUS and Alienware, HP. While some are super high end, others are actually reasonably priced. [LAPTOP Magazine, Intel]