Intel plans new mobile Core 2 Duos, chipsets by May
updated 02:55 pm EST, Wed January 31, 2007
Intel Santa Rosa
Intel has narrowed down the official launch of its next mobile Core 2 Duo and the chipset to accompany it, sources speaking to DigiTimes have said. The combination of processors and mainboards, which Intel has already codenamed Santa Rosa, should arrive in May instead of the less determinate second-quarter timeframe the company has officially listed. The platform adds a much-needed 800MHz system bus (up from 667MHz), the option of caching system information on flash memory, and better integrated graphics with hardware support for the shaders used by both OS X and Windows Vista.
The Taiwanese publication has also revealed that there will be four models -- the T7100, T7300, T7500, and T7770 -- though it did not mention clock speeds or other differences. All four chips are expected to cost less than their current iterations. Bulk prices should drop from $241 to $209 for the least expensive models while high-end chips will see an even steeper discount, dropping from $637 to $530. If substantiated, the news points to both an exact launch period and price drops for new notebooks from Apple, Dell, and other major companies which are normally quick to adopt faster Intel technology in their portables.
