CES 2010: Intel Officially Announces Core i7, i5, and i3 Chips Suitable for Apple Notebooks

[MacRumors]

After all the lead up, Intel finally officially announced the new Core i7, i5 and i3 chips this morning. These chips were previously known by the Arrandale and Clarksdale codenames. The new chips represents the arrival of the 32nm manufacturing process and the Intel Turbo Boost Technology. Information about the new processors have leaked out for months with benchmarks posted earlier this week.

For Apple followers, the processor of most interest is the Intel Core i5 (Arrandale) which represents the first mobile version of the Nehalem architecture that could be used in Apple's notebooks. Early benchmarks have shown performance boosts of 11-29% compared to the similarly clocked processors found in the MacBook Pro.

When asked during the Q&A portion at the end of the press conference about which new processors will appear in Apple's product lines, Sean Maloney, executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Architecture Group, replied, "I do not pre-announce our partners' products and I certainly don't pre-announce Apple's products."

Article Link: CES 2010: Intel Officially Announces Core i7, i5, and i3 Chips Suitable for Apple Notebooks

 

[Eidorian]

Arrandale is made a good showing and it's what we'll see on the mobile side. Clarkdale still feels very ho-hum compared to Lynnfield. The name scheme for Arrandale is a disaster though.

We're still waiting for new notebooks.

 

[ProwlingTiger]

"I do not pre-announce our partners' products and I certainly don't pre-announce Apple's products."

Good answer.

 

[ShiftyPig]

I'm having a hard time seeing why to upgrade. Hopefully there will be some hardware updates to the MPB line as well, but I doubt it as this is a serious performance boost and not just bumping the clock speed.

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Can't wait to see them in notebook.

Bring them on.

 

[jamesryanbell]

.....so it's saying i7 chips are suitable for notebooks? If that's the case, why the "special interest" in the i5?

Just trying to follow.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

When asked during the Q&A portion at the end of the press conference about which new processors will appear in Apple's product lines, Sean Maloney, executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Architecture Group, replied, "I do not pre-announce our partners' products and I certainly don't pre-announce Apple's products."

OK, i don't geek on all of this stuff (reminds me too much of my old day job ), but this at first read comes across as segregating the "partner" from "Apple". I'm sure it was just to emphasize they don't pre-announce others products - but at first read... that isn't how i took it.

Back to not following the processors and all that.....

 

[Eidorian]

"I do not pre-announce our partners' products and I certainly don't pre-announce Apple's products."

Good answer.

Too late. Apple uses off the shelf parts. There never really was a surprise.

 

[Hellhammer]

Apple is stupid if they don't use Arrandale in their laptops soon. Core 2 Duo is dead now and releasing a "new" product with it is even more stupid.

BTW, ATI also release ATI Mobile Radeon 5000 series. It's looking quite promising

 

[elfxmilhouse]

I'm having a hard time seeing why to upgrade. Hopefully there will be some hardware updates to the MPB line as well, but I doubt it as this is a serious performance boost and not just bumping the clock speed.

same here. that is if you mean upgrading your personal computers.

I need to see around 25 to 30% increase in performance and some other new features on top of that to consider upgrading from my current systems.

 

[MikhailT]

Apple is stupid if they don't use Arrandale in their laptops soon. Core 2 Duo is dead now and releasing a "new" product with it is even more stupid.

BTW, ATI also release ATI Mobile Radeon 5000 series. It's looking quite promising

It's not stupid if they wait to get custom chips without the integrated chips, trust me Arrandale's GPU is as just as awful as the previous Intel's GPU. Apple will insist on something of 9400M level or high.

I'm thinking i3 for basic macbook, i5 for midlevel MBP (13'/15') and i7 for 17' Macbook Pro. Great way to differentiate between products and prices.

 

[ShiftyPig]

same here. that is if you mean upgrading your personal computers.

I need to see around 25 to 30% increase in performance and some other new features on top of that to consider upgrading from my current systems.

Exactly. That and it makes better sense for me to upgrade at a summer refresh - educational pricing plus a free iPod touch ftw.

 

[palmerc2]

"Alright men, let's put up some booths here....here....and here. Let's preview lightpeak, the new i3, i5, and i7 processors. HEY JOE! PUT A LES PAUL GUITAR OVER HERE! PREFERABLY IN RED..........OKAY ORANGE WILL DO"

 

[xIGmanIx]

i5 + BD = Sold

 

[basesloaded190]

I'm thinking i3 for basic macbook, i5 for midlevel MBP (13'/15') and i7 for 17' Macbook Pro. Great way to differentiate between products and prices.

Not a bad idea at all here. Don't really think apple will go all out and put i7 in their notebooks right now. I just don't think the power consumption for these will meet apples demands, but i3 for macbook and then i5 for the rest with just increasing clock speeds could very well be the next upgrade

 

[arkmannj]

So.. was this Intel's "Tick" or their "Tock" ?

My Wish List
* i7 / i5
* 2 Dedicated Graphics processors + Integrated enabled (system can mix & match as needed for current demands)
* Tripple Monitor display support (two external + built in display)
* Light Peak
*BluRay Super-Duper Drive

 

[Ca$hflow]

Too late. Apple uses off the shelf parts. There never really was a surprise.

Exactly. It's not difficult to predict releases anymore. Especially with the advent of the internet.:

 

[Michael73]

Not enough oomph

IMHO these are moderate speed gains that will probably only be felt during specific processor intensive tasks. Shaving a couple of seconds here and there won't be impressive enough for most of those who bought in the last 18-24 months to upgrade.

Personally, I'm 12 months into a 24-36 month refresh cycle which is also long enough for RAM to drop in price so that an old default config that used to come with 2GB now comes with 4GB and 4GB comes with 8GB.

 

[vaderhater245]

i7 + higher res = sold!

 

[basesloaded190]

IMHO these are moderate speed gains that will probably only be felt during specific processor intensive tasks. Shaving a couple of seconds here and there won't be impressive enough for most of those who bought in the last 18-24 months to upgrade.

I think those of us with C2D macs will certainly feel the speed gains from this upgrade all over, not just with processor intensive tasks. There is so much different with this new upgrade coming from something like c2d that many will find the upgrade very much worth while

 

[dnenciu]

same here. that is if you mean upgrading your personal computers.

I need to see around 25 to 30% increase in performance and some other new features on top of that to consider upgrading from my current systems.

Exactly.

Personally I'm pretty disappointed with this release.

20% improvement at same clock speed but only going to 2.53 and 2.66 vs 3.06 and 3.33 for the C2D means no improvement in performance at all.

Battery life is same or worse.

The integrated graphics barely matches the 9400m that is 2y old and some say the image quality is worse.

And now companies can't even chose to use a better integrated graphics.

I will probably grab a refurb unibody c2d once the new one is released if they don't bring any other improvements to make it worth it because this chip has left me cold.

 

[Robert M.]

Cool! But like someone else already said: I'm going to wait for the summer refresh! I'll just stick with my October 2008 unibody Macbook until then! I'm also going to hold out on the tablet/slate.

I was talking to my wife last night and realized I don't need another gadget! lol! So I'm not buying the slate unless it does something amazing! Like something no one on this site has mentioned! And I really don't see that happening.

 

[DipDog3]

So maybe we will see newer MacBooks in the coming weeks?

 

[kinless]

I'm having a hard time seeing why to upgrade.

Haha for you maybe. Some of us are still on a 2004 Powerbook G4...

I'd like to wish for Blu-ray, USB 3.0/Lightpeak, and ATI 5000 discrete on the next refresh, but I have a feeling I'll be setting myself up for disappointment.

 

[bergmef]

If they put this and good graphics in the 13 inch pro, I think I will finally pass my 1.8G core duo (4 years) on to my Dad. Should be enough of a boost, especially for Audiobook builder that I seem to use every day.