[Ti] Intel shows off 64-bit dual core processors for mobile, desktop, and servers

[Chris Olson]

On Aug 25, 2005, at 12:13 AM, Tristan Gulyas wrote:

> Or the UltraSparc 4.

I guess I wouldn't necessarily call the SPARC elegant.  Sun's Gnome- 
based Java Desktop is functional but hardly ready for the consumer  
market.  It's an excellent corporate/scientific environment however.   
Same thing applies to SGI MIPS in workstations such as the Tezro  
which is elegant in visualization work, but not really a consumer  
desktop environment.

> Apple's decision for an architecture transition is based on  
> performance-per-watt.  They want to get power use down.  I mean,  
> c'mon, a Pentium dual core 820 (2x2.8GHz) will chew over 200W of  
> power.  I just can't get behind that sort of power for a  
> processor.  This is the merit of the new Intel processor.

If they want performance per watt they already missed the boat,  
looking at Intel's processor roadmap.  In the first place Intel is  
famous for announcing things that never come to be and/or exit the  
pipeline in a totally unrecognizable format (Itanic).  In the second  
place Freescale has dual core processors that draw less power *TODAY*  
than Intel outlined in their roadmap for the Pentium M.  I'll put  
today's dual core PPC hardware up against Intel's vaporware dual core  
Pentium M any day of the week and win on performance per watt.   
Especially when Intel, as indicated in their roadmap, say that  
they'll be *looking* at integrating memory controllers but it's not  
going to happen initially.  Somebody got duped, perhaps Apple.

As you say, it's possible Apple will drop the dual core G4 into the  
PowerBook.  But unlikely.  It would require a completely new logic  
board design with a *much* faster bus and RAM.  My guess is that the  
final update will consist of another clocked up G4 (2.0 Ghz) on the  
same bus that we got now because they can do that without spending  
any money on hardware development.
--
Chris