Intel Focuses on 'Dual-Core' Chips

[Penman]

Just off the Wires...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), the world's largest chip maker, has scrapped plans for two new products and is shifting focus to making chips that contain the cores of two microprocessors, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The chips being canceled include the fourth-generation Pentium 4 chip, code-named Tejas, which was to be sold next year. Also being dropped is a new Xeon processor for low-end computer servers, code-named Jayhawk and believed to be based on a similar architecture to Tejas.

Instead, Intel plans to introduce "dual-core" chips for desktop computers in 2005 and plans to start shipments of dual-core chips for notebook computers the same year, spokeswoman Laura Anderson said.

Dual-core was originally a feature to be introduced in Intel's Itanium chips for powerful data-serving business computers, she said.

"It's kind of a matter of reprioritizing our resources and accelerating development of dual core," Anderson said.

Intel shares rose 64 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $26.62.

This seems like big news to me. I've been saying that I think the new PB's should/will be multi-processor as it's an easier route to power than single bigger chips (i.e. 3-4 G4 cores working faster together than a single, higher clocked G5). I'm not a chip designe expert but what do those who are think this means for Apple? Surely if Wintel portables are dual core they'll have a speed/power advantage over single core mobile chips Apple can't ignore.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Just off the Wires...



This seems like big news to me. I've been saying that I think the new PB's should/will be multi-processor as it's an easier route to power than single bigger chips (i.e. 3-4 G4 cores working faster together than a single, higher clocked G5). I'm not a chip designe expert but what do those who are think this means for Apple? Surely if Wintel portables are dual core they'll have a speed/power advantage over single core mobile chips Apple can't ignore.

Absolutely! That's why Apple's got IBM on their side, right? IBM (and maybe Freescale) can work on getting their PowerPC implementations dual-core enabled to compete with Intel. Then, Apple will do the same thing to their dual-processor desktops. This allows for some new changes to Apple's PowerMac line: the introduction of quad-CPU Macs (two processors, two cores per processor). The low-end PowerMacs get dual cores, the Powerbooks also get dual cores, the top-end iMac might also get dual cores, and the eMac/iBook remain single-core, single-CPU.

 

[e-coli]

Where's the link?

 

[Sun Baked]

Where's the link?

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/040507/tech_intel_6.html