towards the optimal laptop

Yesterday the first independent reviews of the new generation of Intel processors, the Core i7 (formerly known as Nehalem), were published. As usual, the results are good, but not as much as expected from the data published by Intel:

• Comparing Core i7 processors with Core 2 Quad and Extreme running at the same frequency, the Core i7 are between a 0 and a 40% faster.
• The performance increase greatly depends on the kind of task: in single-threaded tasks, the increase is small or inexistent.
• In most general applications the performance increase is 5-10%.
• In digital content creation applications and video transcoding the performance increase is 10-25%, and in some specific cases can go over 35%.
• Power consumption is marginally higher than that of Core 2 processors. As performance per W is higher, Core i7 processors are more efficient than Core 2 ones, but full system power usage is around 10% higher. If this increase is due to memory, chipset or other components is yet to be determined.
• Pricing of Core i7 processors is going to be similar to Core 2 ones of the same frequency, but the need of new motherboards (Intel X58 chipset), DDR3 memory and new cooling solutions will bring the price up. The higher price of the whole platform can be worth it if you have to replace your computer for a new one or if you need the increase in specific applications.
• Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 boards will be available later in November. At the moment there are no news about a version for laptop computers According to our user Arioch, the laptop version (code-named Clarksfield, Calpella platform) is planned for Q3 2009.

Here you have the reviews: ExtremeTech, PC Perspective, Tom’s Hardware, AnandTech; there are others compiled by Engadget.

And, speaking about desktop computer components, Dell just launched the XPS 430 in some countries.