Intel Core 2 Duo ships, heralds 64-bit notebooks

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 29 August 2006 05:14

Your IT - Home IT

Number one chipmaker Intel has begun rolling out its dual-core 64-bit processors for notebooks and the manufacturers have signalled that they are already churning out notebook computers in tandem with the announcement.

The Intel Core 2 Duo, code-named Merom, is said to be about 20% faster than its socket-compatible predecessor, the Core Duo, while consuming less power and generating less heat and is the first 64-bit notebook processor to come off Intel's production line.

The leading notebook manufacturers have already geared up to piggy-back off the Intel announcement, with Dell, HP, Samsung and Alienware, among others, announcing the rollout of Core 2 Duo notebooks.

Apple, which has recently released Core Duo MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks, is expected to simply replace the chips with the Core 2 Duo on its assembly lines this year, as the chips are socket compatible and therefore interchangeable.

The announcement of Merom completes Intel's rollout of its 64-bit dual-core processor range, which also includes Conroe for desktops and Woodcrest for servers.

The rollout of Merom now throws the pressure on to AMD, which has had the edge in notebook chips with its 64-bit Turon chips, to lower prices.