Mobile Core i7 920XM, Clarksfield: Nehalem on-the-go
by Jarred Walton on September 23, 2009 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Initial Thoughts
It's good to finally see an official Nehalem CPU for the mobile sector. Power gate transistors have the potential to seriously improve battery life, and we can't wait to see that sort of technology begin making its way into GPUs and chipsets as well as processors. In terms of performance, things are a little bit of a mixed bag.
Certainly the i7-920XM is a fast processor; the problem is that it's also a relatively power hungry processor, and without a larger battery users of the W87CU can expect roughly the same one hour of battery life you get with other desktop replacements. As long as you understand you're getting a desktop replacement, however, the W87CU should work fine. The real problem isn't competition from the mobile sector per se, but rather the notebooks that use desktop CPUs - specifically desktop i7 CPUs. If you don't care that much about battery life, wouldn't you rather have a desktop replacement with a $1000 Core i7-975 instead of a $1000 Core i7 920? If you're wealthy it probably doesn't matter much, but the rest of us will need to think very carefully about how much we want a faster laptop before taking the Clarksfield plunge. For CPU intensive tasks, the AVADirect D900F system can easily outperform a W87CU for about the same price (though it does weigh more).
If there's anything Clarksfield shows us, it's that we really want Arrandale - sooner rather than later. Quad-core processors simply aren't a major need for the vast majority of laptop users, and the higher prices and higher maximum TDP make them less desirable. Arrandale should do a great job at addressing both of those shortcomings, and the same goes for Clarkdale on the desktop. Lower power dual-core processors with Hyper-Threading will still have the ability to run four simultaneous threads, and they should also be able to run at higher clock speeds most of the time.
We will have additional benchmark results and discussion of the pros and cons of the various laptops tested in this article in the near future. Considering pricing is similar on all three models, however, users will need to decide what they want most. Mobile gamers will definitely want something with dual graphics capability, and content creators will prefer something similar to the D900F. The question is, who fits in the middle? Clarksfield could go either way, offering a reasonable blend of CPU performance and power requirements. It's almost inevitable that we will see Clarksfield laptops in the future that also offer dual GPUs, at which point we might be onto the next Intel "Tock". However you look at it, high-end laptop users just got some new choices, and freedom of choice is always a good thing.
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Hrel - Thursday, October 22, 2009 - link
I consider any dedicated card with at least 16SP's and at least 512MB of dedicated memory to be a gaming laptop; 16 SP's IS the ABSOLUTE minumum, but that should be enough to run everything ecxept maybe crysis (Which I really hate anyway) at 720p or higher with playable frame rates. Who cares about eye candy? As long as the game runs smoothly. Desktops are for eye candy, laptops and consoles are just for gaming.maomao0000 - Sunday, October 11, 2009 - link
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MonicaS - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
Man, as someone who hasn't used a desktop as personal computer for the last 4 years, the move to laptop was a very difficult one. You have the convenience but lack the performance. Now couple this processor with two raid ssd's and 8 gigs of ram in a 64bit Windows 7 laptop and you finally have a beast of a machine in your probably burning lap.I'd love to get that setup and finally not feel as though I'm loosing out to a desktop in anyway. The only true limitation is Crysis, but seriously that game sucked anyway!
Can't wait!
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AnnonymousCoward - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
Heh, "Gamers Are Going Mobile". My video card is the size of some laptops. And I'm not playin on no 15" screen.FXi - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
I have to say the mobility right now is more of a draw than a higher level of eye candy. Now mind you, I have both laptop and desktop so if I really crave eye candy, I can go to the desktop room and game.But with two little ones, I find that my 'gaming time' is often measured in 20 min spans here and there, and that being able to surf or get some work done wherever the kids happen to be is a benefit that I very much enjoy. So I can run Witcher on my old 7950M, windowed @ 1620 and have the settings lower and be "ok" with that.
Mind you I do crave a bit more oomph, a more modern machine, but I can bide my time. The mobility is very nice, and I don't LAN (no time!). Having SLI or a higher end mobile chip simply means the laptop is "acceptable" for a longer period of it's life.
I won't argue the bang for the buck. Mobile gaming is pricey and not cost effective. But the mobility is nice, the space taken up by a machine I can throw in the closet is also nice. And within some limits, lower res or lower eye candy is acceptable as payment for that mobility.
Now I just need USB 3 (USB changes only happen every 10 years or so) and then I might consider upgrading.
strikeback03 - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
When checking my laptop for Ubuntu vs Xp battery life, I accidentally ran my first XP test with my standard undervolt on, didn't seem to impact battery life any.ambientmf - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
Am i the only one who thinks these chips are ridiculously overpriced? I would never drop more than $350 on a CPU even in a desktop, it just doesn't seem economical for a $1K laptop processor. especially if it's only running at a 2.0GHz base.The cheaper options seem really underwhelming and like others have said, the thermal output of these chips just doesn't make sense for a laptop.
cjb110 - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
The big problem with gaming laptop's is that they aren't balanced. The display is always at higher res than the cpu/gpu can drive.I'd get a gaming laptop if it can drive all current gen games at max settings at the native res of the panel it comes with. Even if that res is <1080p.
If it can't do that, then I've spent a lot of money on something that's already behind the desktop I can get for cheaper.
Mugur - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
... if there is one? I mean that that 1.6 Ghz part looks very nice: quad-core with HT and turbo.I think someone could make a decent notebook, not a desktop replacement out of a 720QM.
FXi - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
Shouldn't the Quad core mobiles be 32nm and the Dual cores 45nm? I know that's not the case but what was Intel thinking? It doesn't even look like there's a refresh of the Quad's to 32nm in the Spring.Crazy, cuz they look like good chips with a shrink.