Tech Radar has a good article about Intel’s upcoming Core i7 processor, the first truly integrated quad core from intel (apparently the previous quad cores were actually just two dual cores cobbled together). Judging from the specs and the multi-threading performance this looks to be a very good thing for us in the multimedia world. Couple that with OS X Snow Leopard’s supposed focus on improving multi-core support and it’s looking like things could get very powerful coming up here. That is of course, if the developers hold up their end of the bargain by creating software that efficiently takes advantage of new hardware. But judging from past experience, it’s pretty clear that’s not going to happen (Case in point: Photoshop is still 32-bit on the Macintosh. WTF?). Either way, it’s exciting to see that processor technology is still moving along at a steady clip. Long live Moore’s Law!
Yeah, but can I get it in a non-glossy macbook pro?
I actually ordered the new macbook pro, I had hoped getting a quad-core, but I guess you can’t get everything you want. Anyway, the way they’ve started using the nvidia-cards is really amazing, I think the GPU needed an update more than any component in the macbooks.
Yeah we are doing a “digital drag race” using their new chips in vista… anyway let you know when that goes live. They were nice… but…
there’s no reason for 64-bit to be faster than 32-bit – in fact, because there’s more data moving round, it can be slower. the only roundabout justification for 64-bit to have speed advantages is because you have access to more memory, allowing more caching in your app so the memory-speed bargain comes down further on the side of speed.
multi-core, also, is proving pretty tricky for programmers to correctly exploit, especially once you get above about two or four threads, so don’t hold your breath for most apps to get a whole lot faster in the next couple of versions. every increase in parallelism comes with an exponential increase in bug possibilties.
so i suppose my conclusion is: don’t listen to chip vendors when they tell you things are getting faster. a new programming paradigm comes with a cost.
Heh, I see Moore’s Law popping up everywhere now.