If you are planning on buying a new notebook in 2006, you'll more than likely be looking at one with a new computing platform from Intel known as Centrino Duo, which Intel's marketing suggests will help you "leap ahead" in computing tasks.
First announced a few weeks ago at CES 2006 in Las Vegas, the Centrino Duo (previously codenamed Napa) officially debuted in Australia today. Intel claims 70 percent of all notebooks will include this higher performance platform by the end of the year. This view was strongly supported by the 20 vendors at the launch showing off the more than 40 notebooks soon-to-be on the Australian market.
Notebooks featuring Centrino Duo:
Acer TravelMate 8200
Apple MacBook Pro
Asus A6J
Dell Inspiron 9400 |
Lenovo ThinkPad X60
LG S1 Express Dual
NEC VERSA S5200
Toshiba Satellite Pro
P100 |
So what's the big deal?
Performance and battery
life basically. Intel claims that it offers "up to 70 per cent
better performance than previous Centrino Mobile technology-based
systems while at the same time consuming an average of 28 per
cent less power for improved battery life."
Centrino Duo consists of three core parts:
- Intel Core Duo Processor
- Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset
- Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi
Even if you don't understand the technical parlance, you can be sure that any notebook with a "Centrino Duo" sticker will include the above, updated components.
Of the three parts, the Core Duo CPU seems to be making the most waves since it's the first mobile processor to feature two physical cores. In a nutshell, this could theoretically produce double the performance of a single core chip since two cores can perform independent tasks in parallel with one another. Of course, real-world performance gains will likely be closer to 30 percent than 100 percent due to efficiency issues.
There are two main ways to reap the benefits of dual-core. Firstly, you could use a multi-threaded application, such as many office productivity and content creation programs including Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Roxio VideoWave. Here, operations within that application can be performed faster since the load is split between the two cores. The second method is through multi-tasking. Even if your most often used applications aren't set up to make use of multiple cores, you can run multiple single-threaded applications at once and have tasks from both applications running simultaneously, not one at a time. For a more in-depth technical explanation of Duo Core's advances, see our story Inside Intel's Napa platform.
At Intel's launch event, all of the major OEMs showed off Centrino Duo based notebooks and naturally, we've brought back a sneak peak at some of products you can expect to see hitting the market in the coming months -- there are ultra portables, desktop replacements and everything in-between.
Keep in mind too that, in addition to powering the next generation of laptops, Duo will be at the centre of Intel's new Viiv platform, which will seek to firmly place PCs at the centre of home entertainment.
Notebooks featuring Centrino Duo
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Specifications
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Model
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Acer
TravelMate 8200
Screen size: 15.4-inch Processor speed: 2GHz Hard drive: 120GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 364 x 271 x 26.3/38 mm Weight: 3 kg Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Video RAM: 256MB Price: AU$3999 |
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Apple
MacBook Pro
Screen size: 15.4-inch Processor speed: 1.67GHz or 1.83GHz Hard drive: 80GB or 100GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 357 x 243 x 259 mm Weight: 2.54 kg Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Video RAM: 128MB Price: From AU$3199 |
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Asus
A6J
Screen size: 15.4-inch Processor speed: 1.66GHz Hard drive: 80GB or 100GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 354 x 284 x 35.2 mm Weight: 2.85 kg Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 Video RAM: 512MB Price: AU$2899 |
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Dell
Inspiron 9400
Screen size: 17-inch Processor speed: Up to 2.17GHz Hard drive: Up to 100GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 394 x 287 x 40.64 mm Weight: 3.49 kg Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 Video RAM: Up to 256MB Price: AU$2499 |
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Lenovo
ThinkPad X60
Screen size: 12.1-inch Processor speed: 1.83GHz Hard drive: 60GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 268 x 211 x 20 mm Weight: 1.67 kg Graphics: Intel Integrated Graphics Price: AU$3649 |
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LG
S1 Express Dual
Screen size: 15.4-inch Processor speed: 1.66GHz Hard drive: Up to 120GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 358.8 x 264.4 x 31.7 mm Weight: 2.8 kg Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 Video RAM: 512MB Price: AU$3999 |
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NEC
VERSA S5200
Screen size: 14.1-inch Processor speed: 1.66GHz Hard drive: 80GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 310 x 258 x 27.5/34.5 mm Weight: 1.9 kg Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Video RAM: 128MB Price: AU$2999 |
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Toshiba
Satellite Pro P100
Screen size: 17-inch Processor speed: 1.66GHz Hard drive: 100GB Dimensions (WxDxH): 314 x 259 x 34.9mm Weight: 3.3 kg Graphics: GeForce Go 7400 Video RAM: 128MB Price: AU$3410 |
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canine_ecologist
07/02/2006 05:59 PM
But I think dual core processors are a waste of money! It does not double processor power, it just nakes it sound better thats all. But nice idea tho.
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AndrewTernes
30/01/2007 01:21 PM
Hello, I’m in the market to buy a new laptop. I’m going back to university and a lot of what I do involves dealing with large numbers of 3D points to create 3D models and Digital terrain models. I work with a program called fledermaus and the supplier suggested the following specs to consider. Processor – Duel core around 1.8Ghz with a disk access speed of no less than 7200. RAM/memory – nothing less than 1GB HDD – approx 100GB Graphic Card – I was told to stay away from the inbuilt intel stuff and go for an ATI mobility Radeon x300 or better. With preferable 500MB DVD writable drive Wireless network card/Bluetooth And the ability to add an external monitor and split the desktop. After having a look at Harvey Norman they had hp 6113 I think from memory for $2500. which is in my price range. Would could you recommend for me? Andrew
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