Apple CPU Processor
Superior Intel Technology To The Rescue
Mac experts agree that the Intel Core processor is the next generation in processor design which is just fancy language that Intel is better then your daddy! So the new Intel boasts half the energy requirement of their old CPU’s which means less heat and happens to be quite a bit smaller. This all points to how laptops are able to become smaller and smaller like the Mac Book Air (Thinnest Laptop In The World) since there is not as much heat in that very tiny space.
Intel is the holy grail of processors to some and I would half way agree as we saw AMD miss out on an entire generation of processor opportunities as Intel ruled the show with much superior technology. So what evidence do we have that Intel and their processors in these new thin laptops is actually as amazing as they lead you to believe?
According to an electrical engineer who specializes in CPU technology the Intel chip found in the ultra slim Apple laptop is a bit overrated and actually produces about the same power as other laptops being sold. You will have to read his response to understand the logic but in a complicated technically sounding way it seems to make a lot of sense that AMD chip would out perform the Intel chip in a laptop and would be a lot cheaper for laptop manufacturers to implement into their new systems.
From a CPU Techie Perspective
“Most everybody would actually see more performance out of a 1.60-2.00 GHz Sempron 64 than a 1.40-1.80 GHz C2D LV as almost anything you’d run on a small laptop will be single-threaded anyway. Also, that second core just draws power and throws off heat while doing nothing. The 9-watt 2100+ should have been a very popular chip in subnotebooks. Sure, the 1.06-1.33 GHz Core 2 Duo ULVs will have a little higher performance in even single-threaded tasks, but you don’t use a subnotebook with a ULV CPU to do heavy work with anyway. I should know as I have such a machine and know quite a few people that also do.
IMHO, Intel’s LV and ULV CPUs are very overrated. They are paired up to chipsets that are typically the exact same chipsets that are in standard notebooks and throw off as much heat as the CPU itself. The voltages aren’t even that low- my unit’s U7500 has a voltage of 0.850 volts as VID_min, which is a paltry 100 mV lower than what normal C2Ds and Turion 64 X2s and Mobile Semprons run at. Oh, and I also cannot undervolt either, while AMD’s mobile CPUs have VIDs unlocked to ridiculously low levels (my girlfriend’s Sempron 3600+ has VIDs unlocked down to 0.53 volts.) There are also no single-core C2D LVs at all and I’ve seen no single-core C2D ULVs being sold. If you are concerned about power, a single-core CPU can save a lot: the nonexistant Core 2 Solo ULV U2000 series draws 5.5 watts compared to the Core 2 Duo U7000 series drawing 10 watts. But the marketers push duals. And as a result of all of those bad decisions, the Intel ULV platforms aren’t all that different from standard platforms as far as power consumption goes. The only advantage is a known low maximum power dissipation such that heatsinks can be made smaller- that’s it.”
mu_engineer@manchester
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