The world’s leading chip manufacturer is set to launch more dual-core lines this quarter. It is expected that by the end of this year, 9 out of 10 of their mobile processor output will no longer be single-core.
Previously, Intel had announced that it would enter 2007 with “over 70%” of dual-core chips, primarily the Core Duo ‘Yonah’, along with some new-generation Meron lines. However, last week, Intel confirmed that Meron would be available in August instead of the originally planned fourth quarter of 2006. Thus, the company is confident that the transition from single-core to dual-core will occur more rapidly.
Intel also hopes that Conroe, the new generation of desktop processors launched alongside Meron, will boost the desktop market. They stated that they would finish 2006 with 75% of dual-core CPUs.
However, the transition to Meron may be less beneficial for users compared to Conroe. Intel admits that Meron offers a performance improvement of 20% over the Core Duo T2600 2.16GHz, which is not as high as the 40% increase when comparing Conroe with the Pentium D 960 3.6GHz.
Nonetheless, the momentum driving the popularity of dual-core lines comes from Woodcrest, the server processor, which Intel claims will achieve over 80% operational efficiency compared to the Xeon DP 2.8 GHz. Woodcrest is expected to account for about 75% of the Xeon DP units shipped in the fourth quarter.
T.N.
