Quad-core mobile CPUs: What's the point?

[Draeconis]

Snow Leopard's also apparently due to take advantage of GPUs for processing power, which would make even a MacBook much more powerful without changing them at all.

 

[UltraNEO*]

I read today that quad-core mobile processors are in the making by Intel. I just don't get why. Do they offer a good processing advantage over faster dual-core chips? Do they save power? I have read that programmers haven't fully taken advantage of dual-core CPUs, so I just don't get the deal with quad-core. I'm all ears (well, eyes) for someone who knows more about the innards than I do to explain this. To me, it just seems like the old megahertz/gigahertz wars that really didn't amount to as much as AMD and Intel would've had you think.

Perhaps for some people, no wait.. correction, most people having duo-core is a complete waste of time too! no? Honestly, I don't know why people who use their MB for surfing the net buys a MBP!!! I guess... it's your money!!

Well.. Dunno about you.. But I'd fancy having quad-core in a laptop. It'll come useful when i'm rendering millions of triangles. I'm pretty sure application like Maya & Motion would chew it up without a doubt - no problems - just think... Whack in a 22" or 30" external display, some wireless mouse and keyboard - you have a desktop, almost.


I hope Apple release some High Performance, Hi-Capacity batteries for their MBP range
- for users like me, we need about two full batteries, everyday!

 

[Righteous]

One word: VIRTUALIZATION