Intel Leads The Way
Intel’s innovations drive the computer industry. Their microprocessors, graphics cards and chipsets form the core of the large majority of personal computers. So when they come out with new chips, people listen.
Multi-Tasking
For a long time the big game for processors was speed. The more speed, the better the chip, in theory. But for most applications that we use today, an increase in raw speed wouldn’t really be worth much. Most of my speed issues come when I’m using many different windows at the same time. So this year Intel has included a technology called hyper-threading in their new chips which help us where we need it most: multitasking.I got to play around with a laptop featuring Intel’s new Core i3 processor and I was surprised at how well it handled multitasking. It easily handled my normal window load while running video and a virus scan. Although it hasn’t been finished, it seems like the i3 is going to be a processor that most millennials will want to have in their new laptops.
Mobile Computing
Netbooks are a growing force in personal computing and Intel’s Atom processor has been a major influence. The Atom is an almost unbelievably small processor that sucks very little power, making it perfect for small, lightweight netbooks.
This year Intel announced a newer version of the Atom that also features improved multitasking, but they have also improved the speed of the processor so that the small, less expensive machines can do heavy tasks like play 720p high definition video. Truthfully, the chip is only an incremental improvement and while its features will certainly benefit netbook users, they will have a bigger impact on specialty PCs for home theaters.
For what it’s worth, hyper threading has been around for years and I doubt very much it’s what makes Intel’s new chips faster. Far more likely is plain ol’ density, enabled by the newest manufacturing techniques.
Here’s my question: why the hell did they call it the i3? I mean, it’s got two cores, four threads… as do the i5 and i7. Weird. Why not call it the i4? Or even the i2? Don’t get it!
Jeff
Hyper threading has been around for a while, but it hadn’t hit its stride until multi-core processors came out. With the i series chips, Intel had reserved HT as a premium feature only available on the i7. Now that has changed.
While the chips are obviously faster, I believe Rob’s point was that these days, faster chips are almost superfluous. Very few applications can take full advantage of the speed they already have to offer. What’s really important is how the chips separate out processes, making multitasking much more efficient.
Hyper threading has been around for a while, but it hadn't hit its stride until multi-core processors came out. With the i series chips, Intel had reserved HT as a premium feature only available on the i7. Now that has changed.
While the chips are obviously faster, I believe Rob's point was that these days, faster chips are almost superfluous. Very few applications can take full advantage of the speed they already have to offer. What's really important is how the chips separate out processes, making multitasking much more efficient.