Mobile CPU Wars: Core 2 Duo vs. Core Duo
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 3, 2006 9:25 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
2007 Mobile Roadmap
What will the future hold for Core 2 Duo? The table below shows you the lineup by Q2 of next year:
CPU | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 |
2.40GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 |
2.33GHz |
667MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 |
2.20GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 |
2.16GHz |
667MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 |
2.00GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 |
2.00GHz |
667MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T7000 |
1.80GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 |
1.83GHz |
667MHz |
2MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T5500P* |
1.66GHz |
667MHz |
2MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo T5500* |
1.66GHz |
667MHz |
2MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 |
1.60GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo L7400 |
1.50GHz |
667MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo L7300 |
1.40GHz |
800MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo L7200 |
1.33GHz |
667MHz |
4MB |
Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 |
1.06GHz |
533MHz |
2MB |
*Note: These CPUs lack Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) support)
By the end of this year you can expect a T5500 running at 1.66GHz for $209, but the rest of the new models won't appear until next year. In Q1 2007 Intel will introduce the first Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processors, the L7400 and L7200 at 1.5GHz and 1.33GHz respectively. In Q2 2007, Intel will introduce all of the 800MHz FSB Core 2 Duo parts, as well as the Ultra Low Voltage Core 2 Duo U7500.
The difference between the T5500P and the T5500 is that the former is a Socket-P part (Santa Rosa platform), while the latter is Socket-M (Napa platform).
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Spacecomber - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
I know that we are perhaps past the time for this, but I'd be curious how the Pentium M stacked up against its replacement, the Core Solo. It might shed some light on the roots for the Core line of processors.ksherman - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
I for one hope Apple pops these babies in the MacBook as well as the MacBook Pro. I have been reading a lot of rumors suggesting that Apple will only put Merom in the Pro model at first... Seems kinda goofy, since they purchase processors in *relatively* low quantity. Ive got my eye on the MacBook, so any performance increase with no price premium is always a plus, and I do plan on doing a lot of video editing/renderingmlittl3 - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
I'm waiting for the third revision of the Macbook Pro in the middle of next year. By this revision most of the problems with the new designs should be ironed out and these notebooks will probably be based on the Santa Rosa platform (800 MHz FSB). Right now I have a 1.5 GHz G4 Powerbook and it does what I need. I will upgrade to the Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo (Merom) on the Santa Rosa platform. If you like your notebook right now, I would wait until then. This would give you the most stability and bump in performance in the near future. Expect the third revision sometime next summer.mlittl3 - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
To be more clear:First Revision - Macbook Pro 2.16 GHz Core Duo 667 MHz FSB 2 MB (1Q 2006)
Second Revision - Macbook Pro 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo 667 MHz FSB 4 MB (3Q 2006?)
Third Revision - Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo 800 MHz FST 4 MB (2Q 2007?)
AndrewChang - Sunday, August 6, 2006 - link
Santa Rosa... At the earliest? I mean, I supose with the Core 2 Duo being 'crippled' by a slow(er) FSB, it might be worth the wait. But what do you think Anand means by, at the earliest?Whats next after Santa Rosa? Does he know something we don't know? Well, thats a given, but now I'm sketched out about all this... Should we expect some early adopter problems with the introduction of this newfangled Robson technology? God, for a hardware enthusiast, who would've thought that making a new hardware purchase could be so tough. All I want is the fastest performing Merom/Leopard based Macbook Pro available. Am I really going to have to wait until at least Santa Rosa next year? It's going to be a long wait...
Olaf van der Spek - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
What three Compaqs?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
Didn't you see the three compaqs in the review? ;)Take care,
Anand
yacoub - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
now this is a test i can totally appreciate: everything is identical except the CPU, so you get to see what the REAL WORLD benefit of changing the CPU is in your REAL WORLD system that people might actually buy/own. ie, instead of maxing everything else out with parts 99% of people don't buy / can't afford.of course the result is that you see that the real world difference is only noticeable in some situations and with some programs. but hey, that's the reality of it and actually it's easy to see that since the pricing is comparable and all else the same, it's a decent upgrade and certainly a level of future-proofing as well.
jones377 - Thursday, August 3, 2006 - link
It was interesting to compare the numbers in this review with the previous Core 2 Duo desktop review where 2MB vs 4MB L2 cache was examined (although at 1,83GHz/1066)http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
Its not a perfect comparison but from what I can gather, there are significant improvements performance wise coming from the core, even in the non-FP/SSE related benchmarks. A favorite argument among some people is that the extra cache makes all the difference, I hope this will shut them up! (tho I really doubt it)
iollmann - Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - link
In SSE code, I see close to a factor of 2 performance increase from Yonah to Merom much of the time. These benchmarks are depressing. The improvement should be better than what we see. Does no one vectorize?