Intel's new Core 2 Duo L7200 and L7400: Completely pointless?
Tags: intel, power, battery, law
Intel has started shipping a couple of new low-voltage processors designed to help make tiny laptops faster. The Core 2 Duo L7200 and L7400 chips, clocked at 1.05GHz and 1.33GHz respectively, have a fast 667MHz front-side bus and a monstrous 4MB of shared level 2 cache.
The chips are said to have a thermal design power (TDP) of 17W, which sounds good on paper, but we wonder just how much benefit this will bring the consumer. If you're buying an ultraportable and your main concern is battery life, you're probably better off getting an ultra low-voltage chip such as the 1.06GHz U2400 CPU in the Asus U1 -- which has a TDP of 9W.
If there's one complaint we have with ultraportables it's the fact they run out of battery power when we're right in the middle of something -- not that they don't run our 3D rendering software.
Intel, sort your life out: We know you're constantly chasing Moore's law, but how about following Crave's law, which states it would be really, really nice if laptop battery life should double once every 18 months.
Get on it! -RR
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AnonymousSun 1 April, 2007 11:38pm
It really seams like the author of this article is missing the point here.... These are core 2 duo processors, and as such come with all sorts of advantages over the older core duo architecture (EM64T comes to mind). Moreover, these particular processors are targeted at different applications than the Ultra Low voltage models. Specifically, low-noise or fanless environments such as those found in small form factor HTPCs are ideal for the L7200 or L7400 since they maintain adequate performance at considerably reduced energy (noise) rates.
These processors represent the latest technological fulcrum point of the performance/power trade-off game and fill a useful role therein.
AnonymousSat 10 February, 2007 1:17pm
The author has no knowledge of microprocessor architecture and the fact the Core 2 Duo is completely new micro-architecture with more features which are not supported in the previous architecture
Sumit AgarwalSun 18 February, 2007 4:16am
Author: PLEASE NOTE THE 'U' AND THE 'L' PREFIXING THE MENTIONED PROCESSORS! You are comparing products of significantly different purpose and market. The Core Duo you mention above is from the "Ultra-Low Voltage" line while the new Core 2 Duo's are from the "Low Voltage" line. Machines using the 9watt Core Duo ULV part will continue to do so. Machines using the 15watt Core Duo LV part will be transitioned to the new 17watt Core 2 Duo LV.
AnonymousWed 11 April, 2007 10:42pm
I don't think this person know much about these processors at all! Don't take his words.
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AnonymousThu 8 February, 2007 2:07pm
OK, you might not care about performance as much as power consumption but I do,
I reather a faster processor ( Ijust need an extra battery