The New Notebook, The I's Have It
By Will Claney
Intel, the giant Silicon Valley chip maker, has just release a slew of new CPUs for notebook computers - they are spectacular. The new series CPUs are named i3, i5 and i7s with power ratcheting up with each number. The mobile chips follow the successful release of the i7 for desktops. These new processors give notebooks superb processing capabilities and extended battery life.
The chips compact design allows it to run without much power thereby giving notebooks longer battery life. The chip itself delivers two to three times the throughput of the previous generation Core 2s.
In short, the architecture of the new CPU eliminates many of the bottlenecks associated with older models. This new standard allows many more process to be running and feeding the CPU with more information faster. Therefore the “throughput” or the total amount of work done in a second is much greater than previous models.
Notebook manufacturers are moving to this new CPU as fast as the chips become available. We have been fortunate to test various Acer, Toshiba and Lenovo (IBM) models of i3 and i5s notebooks and we have verified the hype, they are fast and sleek, and take maximum advantage of the Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7.
If you’re into video editing, surfing the Internet, or like collecting and playing music this new breed of notebook is for you. The video is fast and sharp, especially if you get the new “back-light” with LED’s (light emitting diodes) instead of the older florescent light. Just a note, the florescent light type uses a light the size of a soda straw then they excite the tubes with an inverter and both these pieces are subject to failure while the LED type light source is not.
The technology behind the speed increase for the i3, i5 and i7 are many, however QPI or quick path interconnect is the most prevalent enhancement. The QPI allows the processer better access to memory by going direct to the memory and bypassing a separate chip called the Northbridge. The speed of the front side bus (FSB) memory used to be approximately 800-1333Mhz. With QPI that has been boosted about 10-20 times. The QPI measure metric is different as it no longer uses FSB, but rather a “transactions” based speed so the comparison is not exact.
Throughput is the measurement by which modern computers are judged. “In the day,” the clock cycle or CPU megahertz was the gauge of computer power; today it is transactions per second or GT/s (gig transactions per second). The i7 CPU is capable of 6.4GT/s.
Intel has invested $7 billion in the fabrication plant that produces these tiny CPUs. The size of the mobile i3, i5, i7 CPU has shrunk to 32nm. To get some perspective of the size, take a human hair and split it about 10,000 times. That is why it takes so little energy to power the chip and the reason the battery lasts longer.
For more information about these amazing CPUs visit a local expert. Or, you could go to Staples and get information about, er, staplers? I dunno, your choice.
FYI, I would like to know what interests you so I can make my articles relevant, please email me at will@shopcusa.com with your thoughts. Thanks.
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