I admit it, I have no use for the Weener (Windows) keys. Its a pointless feature to have if you use other OSs or migrating AWAY from Windows. Its like Nvidia's chipset firewall solution...Another pointless feature for "Windows Only" users. (Which causes more trouble than its really worth).
With Lenovo adopting all these "everyone else has it" features, its not the same ThinkPad anymore. They don't stand out technologically, like they used to.
Granted, the fingerprint scanner and keyboard light is interesting, but that's all there is. My old R40 ThinkPad has a keyboard light as well. So I guess the only thing is the fingerprint scanner.
As for ThinkVantage, that is useful...To some extent.
I tried to "clean restore" WinXP from the hidden partition (as Windows requires a clean installation after 2 or more years of use), and I get a crapload of errors. The Trackpoint or Touchpad seem to be no longer detected, and so on. And other error messages. I couldn't get past finishing the install. So I unhid that WinXP Partition, and formatted the sucker clean, gained 8GB back of HDD space. Which is enough for a quadriple boot...Win2k, Slackware, FreeBSD and Solaris. (And they all work fine with the Trackpoint/Touchpad).
I think Apple will focus their Intel support on the Yonah designs. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Mac Mini or something that was essentially a Yonah desktop.
And I am quite glad that IBM/Lenovo are finally putting a Windows key on their Thinkpads!
Hope that carries over to their rack-mount KVM's, as well. Drives me nuts....
The fanboi is probably too demoralized to come out and troll. The numbers don't lie -- Core Duo is fast and efficient, and the Centrino Duo stuff is going to make Intel a pile of money.
Beenthere tried to claim the opposite in his comments re the AnandTech preview, and he got run over like a Prescott in the way of an Athlon 64. Come to think of it, Beenthere's claims about Core Duo were about as stupid as claiming Prescott >>> Athlon 64.
"Intel 3945ABG Wireless solution"
"starting to look at platforms and solutions"
"the 3945ABG wireless solution is what is known as"
"915 chipset and 2915ABG wireless solution"
"wireless solutions have both been undergoing reductions"
"Pricing (with 945GM chipset and wireless solution)"
"it did give us a nice solution"
Another definition of 'solution' is something that is diluted or watered down. Wonder if Intel appreciates having their products looked upon from that perspective. (cred: buzzkiller dot net)
Anand, whenever you find yourself about to type 'solution' in the future, please think, do I really want to sound like I'm copying from the presskit?
It's part of everyday speech - for PR guys. It's also pretentious - the customer should decide the solution for himself.
> You read this hunting for the word "solution."
No, I read it and buzzwords like solution kept popping out at me, so I used grep to do a quick wordcount. Seven times repeating mindless marketing drivel! C'mon Anand, I know you can write better than this.
The inside meant that this computer had an Intel chip inside meaning better performance than those other people, way back in 1993, not that Intel focused on the insides of the computer.
Watch it and this will actually be bad for them. All those people won't even recognize the intel they knew with the new logo. "Leap Ahead"? How original.
the only mistake in this excellent article is that they use the wrong memory with ddr2-533.
the new core Duo supports DDR2-667.
I am wrong when I mean that this could be a bottleneck?
maybe the performance will raise with this memory but also the powerconsumption because of the higher frequency.
You hit the nail on the head. The increased power consumption would not be worth it. And IIRC was pointed out in the article, higher memory freq would provide a really minimal performance increase since the FSB is already lower bandwidth than that.
Did anyone else notice the strange mention of three compaq laptops on page 13 IIRC of the review?
Anyway, this looks like a good product from Intel which will keep them ahead in mobile areas for the foreseeable future. AMD may catch up of course, but we will see what they offer later this year. I'm sure that revision F will be good though, and DDR2 will reduce power consumption on AMD notebooks a bit more.
You are all dreaming here, thinking that amd can release a processor (platform) as good as this for the notebook area. The only extra is the 64 bit.
They lack all the others, and primary ones:
-Good platform from one of their partners.
-Low power chipset to couple with the processor.
-Brand recognition....
Type: Gaming, General Purpose, Media
Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
Processor Name: Intel Pentium M T2500
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 1024 MB
Hard Drive Capacity: 80 GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Screen Size: 17 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
System Weight: 8.2 lbs
That power consumption will be equal or better than previous Pentium-M generation. Now lets wait for AMD what they have to offer when they launch the Turion64 X2.
They wont be sufficient to compete with "Core Duo" the only real advantages over intel are 64 bit support and cheaper cpu prices, nothing else.
Intel will leap forward a few more years in the mobile market.
quote: They wont be sufficient to compete with "Core Duo" the only real advantages over intel are 64 bit support and cheaper cpu prices, nothing else
Keep in mind that you're just making an "enthusiastic guess" here...
AMD has started a new process of strained silicon on their 90nm chips which is specifically targeted at reducing power and increasing effeciency.
These are released in new steppings rather than new architectures (remember Rev E cut power requirements in half compared to previous generations of 90nm chips).
Even more important is the platforms...remember that the Turion isn't even 1 year old, and the platform designs are still minimal at best. It would be foolish to discount AMD at this point.
That said, Intel deserves hearty congratulations on the duo and it's platform! 2006 is going to be an interesting year...!
Lets hope that AMD release Turion's X2 with a even more reduced power consumption and DDR2 support that will be really "Sweet".
Se imaginan un Turion64 X2 o un Core Duo combinado con un x1800 Mobility Radeon eso seria la combinacion perfecta para 'Lan Parties'. Sin la necesidad de andar con equipo pesado.
==============================================================================
Can you imagine a notebook with Turion X2 or Core Duo matched with a X1800 Mobility Radeon. That will be the perfect combination for Lan-Parties. Without the need for carrying heavy parts from your Desktop @ home.
Very lovely power consumption. I suppose power consumption will be a bit higher when both cores are at 100% usage but most of us dont keep our CPU usage pegged at 100% when using a notebook and specially not if we care about power consumption at all. It'd be nice if Intel had decided to go to 90nm on the chipsets but I suppose their power consumption is not that high to begin with and Intel needs a use for its 130nm fabs...
off course the power consumption will be higher with both cores at 100% usage - but in this case the "work per watt" is greater, as processors don't use all the power in the system.
Just that people would prefer a laptop that consume a battery charge faster but finish the work much faster than the other way around.
Intel's chipset shortage problem is because all current MCH's are still on 130nm, which is maxed out in the fabs. They would love to get the 90nm Broadwater/Crestline chips out the door to free up 130nm capacity to build low end parts again.
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29 Comments
Back to Article
stmok - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I admit it, I have no use for the Weener (Windows) keys. Its a pointless feature to have if you use other OSs or migrating AWAY from Windows. Its like Nvidia's chipset firewall solution...Another pointless feature for "Windows Only" users. (Which causes more trouble than its really worth).With Lenovo adopting all these "everyone else has it" features, its not the same ThinkPad anymore. They don't stand out technologically, like they used to.
Granted, the fingerprint scanner and keyboard light is interesting, but that's all there is. My old R40 ThinkPad has a keyboard light as well. So I guess the only thing is the fingerprint scanner.
As for ThinkVantage, that is useful...To some extent.
I tried to "clean restore" WinXP from the hidden partition (as Windows requires a clean installation after 2 or more years of use), and I get a crapload of errors. The Trackpoint or Touchpad seem to be no longer detected, and so on. And other error messages. I couldn't get past finishing the install. So I unhid that WinXP Partition, and formatted the sucker clean, gained 8GB back of HDD space. Which is enough for a quadriple boot...Win2k, Slackware, FreeBSD and Solaris. (And they all work fine with the Trackpoint/Touchpad).
Scarceas - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
I think Apple will focus their Intel support on the Yonah designs. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Mac Mini or something that was essentially a Yonah desktop.And I am quite glad that IBM/Lenovo are finally putting a Windows key on their Thinkpads!
Hope that carries over to their rack-mount KVM's, as well. Drives me nuts....
littlebitstrouds - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I wanna see a desktop board with this chip in it... then overclock the heck out of it. I bet that thing would scream.raskren - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Hmmm...Looks like an extremely competitive if not flat-out better Intel solution.
So where is Beenthere's a.k.a. CRAMITPAL's canned comment?
stateofbeasley - Sunday, January 8, 2006 - link
The fanboi is probably too demoralized to come out and troll. The numbers don't lie -- Core Duo is fast and efficient, and the Centrino Duo stuff is going to make Intel a pile of money.Beenthere tried to claim the opposite in his comments re the AnandTech preview, and he got run over like a Prescott in the way of an Athlon 64. Come to think of it, Beenthere's claims about Core Duo were about as stupid as claiming Prescott >>> Athlon 64.
uly - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
"Intel 3945ABG Wireless solution""starting to look at platforms and solutions"
"the 3945ABG wireless solution is what is known as"
"915 chipset and 2915ABG wireless solution"
"wireless solutions have both been undergoing reductions"
"Pricing (with 945GM chipset and wireless solution)"
"it did give us a nice solution"
Another definition of 'solution' is something that is diluted or watered down. Wonder if Intel appreciates having their products looked upon from that perspective. (cred: buzzkiller dot net)
Anand, whenever you find yourself about to type 'solution' in the future, please think, do I really want to sound like I'm copying from the presskit?
Other than that, nice review.
raskren - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
You read this hunting for the word "solution." Please, this is part of everyday speech, not a buzzword.uly - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
It's part of everyday speech - for PR guys. It's also pretentious - the customer should decide the solution for himself.> You read this hunting for the word "solution."
No, I read it and buzzwords like solution kept popping out at me, so I used grep to do a quick wordcount. Seven times repeating mindless marketing drivel! C'mon Anand, I know you can write better than this.
sprockkets - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
The inside meant that this computer had an Intel chip inside meaning better performance than those other people, way back in 1993, not that Intel focused on the insides of the computer.Watch it and this will actually be bad for them. All those people won't even recognize the intel they knew with the new logo. "Leap Ahead"? How original.
henroldus - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
the only mistake in this excellent article is that they use the wrong memory with ddr2-533.the new core Duo supports DDR2-667.
I am wrong when I mean that this could be a bottleneck?
maybe the performance will raise with this memory but also the powerconsumption because of the higher frequency.
OvErHeAtInG - Saturday, January 7, 2006 - link
You hit the nail on the head. The increased power consumption would not be worth it. And IIRC was pointed out in the article, higher memory freq would provide a really minimal performance increase since the FSB is already lower bandwidth than that.psychobriggsy - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Did anyone else notice the strange mention of three compaq laptops on page 13 IIRC of the review?Anyway, this looks like a good product from Intel which will keep them ahead in mobile areas for the foreseeable future. AMD may catch up of course, but we will see what they offer later this year. I'm sure that revision F will be good though, and DDR2 will reduce power consumption on AMD notebooks a bit more.
Stolichnaya - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
Looks like the 'i' is going to crash on it's left side any time...nserra - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
You are all dreaming here, thinking that amd can release a processor (platform) as good as this for the notebook area. The only extra is the 64 bit.They lack all the others, and primary ones:
-Good platform from one of their partners.
-Low power chipset to couple with the processor.
-Brand recognition....
nidomus - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
coughfanboycoughBrucmack - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
I'm normally not a spelling nazi, but this is the second time I've seen this on Anandtech, and it's really annoying...On page 5, the word you're looking for is "segue", not "segway".
Shark Tek - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Great package but I don't have money for it :(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1908402,00.as...">Dell Inspiron E1705
Type: Gaming, General Purpose, Media
Operating System: MS Windows XP Media Center
Processor Name: Intel Pentium M T2500
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 1024 MB
Hard Drive Capacity: 80 GB
Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11a/g
Screen Size: 17 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
System Weight: 8.2 lbs
Calin - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
But that isn't a portable laptop, is a towable one :(Shark Tek - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
That power consumption will be equal or better than previous Pentium-M generation. Now lets wait for AMD what they have to offer when they launch the Turion64 X2.They wont be sufficient to compete with "Core Duo" the only real advantages over intel are 64 bit support and cheaper cpu prices, nothing else.
Intel will leap forward a few more years in the mobile market.
Viditor - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Keep in mind that you're just making an "enthusiastic guess" here...
AMD has started a new process of strained silicon on their 90nm chips which is specifically targeted at reducing power and increasing effeciency.
These are released in new steppings rather than new architectures (remember Rev E cut power requirements in half compared to previous generations of 90nm chips).
Even more important is the platforms...remember that the Turion isn't even 1 year old, and the platform designs are still minimal at best. It would be foolish to discount AMD at this point.
That said, Intel deserves hearty congratulations on the duo and it's platform! 2006 is going to be an interesting year...!
Shark Tek - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Lets hope that AMD release Turion's X2 with a even more reduced power consumption and DDR2 support that will be really "Sweet".Se imaginan un Turion64 X2 o un Core Duo combinado con un x1800 Mobility Radeon eso seria la combinacion perfecta para 'Lan Parties'. Sin la necesidad de andar con equipo pesado.
==============================================================================
Can you imagine a notebook with Turion X2 or Core Duo matched with a X1800 Mobility Radeon. That will be the perfect combination for Lan-Parties. Without the need for carrying heavy parts from your Desktop @ home.
Just imagine that ....
coldpower27 - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Very impressive.monsoon - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
yeah, me too i'm curious about the Apple products coming with Yonah, and how they stack up to X2 athlons PC Yonah notebooks......and overclocking !!!
PS - BTW did you try to overclock the ASUS Yonah notebook ?
PeteRoy - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
noDoormat - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Page loads took forever but the review was interesting.I'm still interested to see what Apple does with these chips in their iBooks next week.
The battery life of the T60 was impressive - 227 minutes for DVD playback. Finally, I can watch an LOTR episode on one battery!
The release of only 1 single core chip speaks volumes - intel is ditching single core chips when they can. They want to push dual core hard.
Calin - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
In DVD playback the DVD unit consume some of the power... I wonder if playing a DVD from a virtual drive or from a network would prolong battery lifeFuren - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Very lovely power consumption. I suppose power consumption will be a bit higher when both cores are at 100% usage but most of us dont keep our CPU usage pegged at 100% when using a notebook and specially not if we care about power consumption at all. It'd be nice if Intel had decided to go to 90nm on the chipsets but I suppose their power consumption is not that high to begin with and Intel needs a use for its 130nm fabs...Calin - Friday, January 6, 2006 - link
off course the power consumption will be higher with both cores at 100% usage - but in this case the "work per watt" is greater, as processors don't use all the power in the system.Just that people would prefer a laptop that consume a battery charge faster but finish the work much faster than the other way around.
cheburashka - Thursday, January 5, 2006 - link
Intel's chipset shortage problem is because all current MCH's are still on 130nm, which is maxed out in the fabs. They would love to get the 90nm Broadwater/Crestline chips out the door to free up 130nm capacity to build low end parts again.