[BBLISA] Dual processor laptops?

[Tom Metro]

Larry Beaulieu wrote:
> Also note that right now you'll see 2 different dual-core product
> lines. "Core Duo" processors started shipping earlier this year, 
> "Core 2 Duo" is the later iteration and offers an incremental
> performance improvement...

When shopping for a dual-core laptop earlier this Fall, I used this article:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808

as one reference, which says essentially the same thing - that the newer 
Core 2 Duo provides a small, incremental improvement.

According to the article Core 2 Duo should be available in laptops now 
(the article is from early August, and thus a bit dated), and selling 
for the same price, so it would be the preferred option, though I 
haven't noticed it in any of the laptops advertised to consumers. If 
you're willing to use the non-2 version, you'll have more model choices, 
and will probably get a better price.

The article also mentions AMD's Turion 64 X2 and notes its limited 
availability. That doesn't seem to still be the case. I've seen lots of 
models with X2s lately. However, I believe the benchmarks still give the 
edge to Intel's dual-core CPUs (on performance; I don't know about power 
consumption).


Nicholas Kathmann wrote:
> Last I heard, the dual-cores offer a 1.4x - 1.8x performance upgrade
> over a single processor.  You don't get full 2x...

At a recent BLU talk by Alex Vasilevsky, Founder of Virtual Iron (they 
make "Enterprise-Class Virtualization" software (Xen based)), gave 
similar numbers. I think he said 1.5x. Probably depends on the benchmark 
or application.


Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> How does this really differ, if at all, from having two separate
> processors on the motherboard?

Is two sockets even a practical option on a laptop? I've never heard of 
such a thing. If so, it'd be a very high-priced specialty model.

anandtech.com and most of the other hardware sites have background 
articles on dual-core technology.


> Ignore budgets for now.

Dual-core shouldn't have a big impact on budgets. It's quickly becoming 
the mainstream, pushing single core models to the value market.

I've seen laptops with Intel dual-core CPUs selling in the $500s and the 
Toshiba I purchased was $700. Buy a Dell through normal corporate buying 
channels with support contracts, and of course you'll pay more, but the 
premium for dual-core shouldn't be too bad.

  -Tom


-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/