A Preview of Intel's Centrino 2 Platform
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 15, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
The Montevina Rollout for the Rest of 2008
There's more Centrino 2 to come, by the end of this year Intel will add to the Montevina lineup with new small form factor chips. These chips all have the 22mm x 22mm package that was first used in Apple's MacBook Air:
| Core | Platform | Clock Speed | FSB | L2 Cache | TDP | Package | |
| Core 2 Duo SP9400 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 2.40GHz | 1066MHz | 6MB | 25W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo SP9300 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 2.26GHz | 1066MHz | 6MB | 25W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo SL9400 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 1.86GHz | 1066MHz | 6MB | 17W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo SL9300 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 1.60GHz | 1066MHz | 6MB | 17W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo L7700 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.80GHz | 800MHz | 4MB | 17W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo L7500 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.60GHz | 800MHz | 4MB | 17W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo L7300 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.40GHz | 800MHz | 4MB | 17W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo SU9400 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 1.40GHz | 800MHz | 3MB | 10W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo SU9300 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 1.20GHz | 800MHz | 3MB | 10W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo U7700 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.33GHz | 533MHz | 2MB | 10W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo U7600 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.20GHz | 533MHz | 2MB | 10W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo U7500 | 65nm Merom | Santa Rosa | 1.06GHz | 533MHz | 2MB | 10W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo U3300 | 45nm Penryn | Montevina | 1.20GHz | 800MHz | 3MB | 5.5W | 22mm x 22mm |
| Core 2 Duo U2200 | 65nm Merom | Napa Refresh | 1.20GHz | 533MHz | 1MB | 5.5W | 35mm x 35mm |
| Core 2 Duo U2100 | 65nm Merom | Napa Refresh | 1.06GHz | 533MHz | 1MB | 5.5W | 35mm x 35mm |
The Core 2 Duo SL9400 and SL9300 are prime MacBook Air replacement candidates, they run at slightly higher clock speeds, have more L2 cache and actually have a lower TDP than the chips in the MacBook Air (17W vs. 20W).
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gfxmatters - Friday, July 18, 2008 - link
So now that we have established that the HD video is broken (unless you like frame-skipping :>), how about the 3D and some games? I like Intel (I own many) and give them the benefit of the doubt on CPUs, but not GPUs. Why? Track record, from Vista issues to reported game perfornace and compatibility! Let's see the numbers....SmartyPants - Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - link
Not 100% sure, but don't the new Lenovo Thinkpad X200 have Centrino 2? Some people have gotten their hands on units and reviews are popping up.FITCamaro - Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - link
I'm glad this feature is finally making a real push in the market. And it doesn't get any lower power than an integrated Intel GPU. All I want on the go is web browsing, DVD playback and Office. If I'm playing a game on a laptop, its with the power cord plugged in.nysupport - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1880/85/">http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1880/85/kevinkreiser - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
Seriously, does anyone know when G45 based boards will finally hit the market? The article mentions that GM45 laptops should be out within 30 days, but it seems like I've been waiting for what seems like 6 months for the G45.Brian23 - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
I think your package info for the chips is wrong. 35mm^2 is smaller than the size of your pinkey fingernail. I think you meant to say 35mm x 35mm. That would be 1225mm^2 or 1.225cm^2.strikeback03 - Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - link
actually, that should be 12.25cm^2MrSpadge - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
Hi Anand,you're writing:
"Note that here, while the voltages dropped vs. Merom, maximum current draw actually went up to 44A from 41A. This could be due to greater leakage, the higher clock speeds offered by Penryn or simple inexperience with the 45nm process compared to Intel's tried-and-true 65nm process upon its release."
It's much simpler than that. P = U*I, so if P=const (35W) and V goes down, I has to go up.
Regards,
MrS
crimson117 - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
Not so much "new platform" as "new marketing opportunity for OEMs".I don't mean to knock Centrino - the original platform really did move the wireless revolution along.
Centrino2 however brings nothing new other than upgraded (or downgraded!) components.
I think AMD went the right way by including graphics requirements in their http://game.amd.com/us-en/amdgame_whatis.aspx">AMD GAME! platform, but only time will tell. Centrino is such a strong brand name it might be hard to top. It would be nice to see a gaming-based Centrino.
ltcommanderdata - Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - link
It'd be nice if you could also get a similarly configured system with the 2.53GHz T9400 and P9500 to try to ascertain the realworld battery-life benefits between the 35W and 25W TDPs. (I'd wish they'd just call the 25W TDP parts Medium Voltage, Mxxxx parts, which makes it more intuitive where they belong compared to LV and ULV parts.)And maybe a comparison between a 2.4GHz SL9400 and a 2.4GHz P8600 to see how big a difference the loss of 3MB of L2 cache is. With a 1066MHz FSB, it probably isn't a big deal.