Intel has extended its top of the line processing power to the mobile space with the launch of its Core 2 Extreme Mobile processor, the X7800. This 2.6-GHz part marks a 200 MHz increase over Intel's previous Core 2 Duo mobile high, the 2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo T7700, which debuted in May along with Intel's "Santa Rosa" Centrino platform. The core microarchitecture is the same, however (die shown below).
Like the high-end Core 2 Duos, the Extreme X7800 boasts 4MB of L2 cache, an 800-MHz front side bus, and advanced power management features that let the processor cores and the front side bus scale up and down dynamically as needed by the application. But like desktop versions of the Extreme CPU line, this mobile part is unlocked, so gamers and other power users can increase the processor speed at will.
The chip runs hotter than the Core 2 Duo line as well at 44 watts, but since it can go into very deep sleep if you don't need the full power of the two cores, the battery life hit may be mitigated.
The new chip works with the Santa Rosa 965 chip set, so users get all of those improvements, which include draft-n Wi-Fi, gigabit ethernet, and better integrated graphics. Given the target market, though, expect most notebooks with the X7800 to use a separate graphics solution to maximize performance.
The first new notebooks should debut at the end of the month, with others following in August. Expect HP to be one of the first out of the gate, with Asus and Dell shortly thereafter, according to industry sources.
Though the X7800 does not introduce new technological advances to notebooks, it should still prove worthwhile to gamers, content creators, and others who need every ounce of processing power they can get their hands on for their laptop of choice. (Also check out current high-power laptops in our latest Top 5 chart.)
