Core i7 notebook chips still on for summer?
updated 09:40 am EDT, Thu April 16, 2009
Core i7 Mobile Still Q3
Despite claims to the contrary, Intel's mobile Core i7 platform is still reported as on track for the summer. Although Intel publicly stated at its latest Developer Forum that the platform (nicknamed Calpella) and its matching processors (Clarksfield) aren't due until the fall, Fudzilla understands that suppliers are being told that all of the notebook components are due in the summer quarter. However, the initial wave of Intel-made chipsets won't include integrated graphics, forcing these systems to use either third-party chipsets or dedicated graphics.
The move is a potential opening for AMD and NVIDIA, either of whom would be most likely to supply graphics. However, it's unlikely to include the GeForce 9400M or a successor without an end to the contract dispute between NVIDIA and Intel. The latter claims NVIDIA's license to produce mainboard chipsets doesn't extend to any processor that has a built-in memory controller, including any Core i7 design.
Clarksfield is expected to largely be a downscaled version of Core i7 for desktops and will have a much faster, point-to-point interface between the CPU, memory and peripherals. It also has Turbo Boost, which shuts down unused cores while overclocking necessary ones, and supports Hyperthreading for letting each core handle as many as two program threads at once. Specifications for these mobile chips are still unknown but should include at least one quad-core processor.
