Apple Macbook Pro 15 Early 2011

Introduction
I know that the Apple has released their new range of Macbook Pros towards the late February 2011. I was unable to test one unit until recently. The unit for testing was the baseline model of the Apple Macbook Pro 15 which comes with a Core i7-2635QM cpu and 256MB AMD HD 6490M discrete graphics card. For the next few weeks I am going to pay more attention to the device including tips for upgrading the unit besides pros and cons of the unit itself.

Specification
Perhaps it will be good to start by listing down the specification of the Macbook Pro 15 2011 version. As described, it is a 15.4" (standard resolution of 1440 x 900) laptop which comes with two fans (one for the cpu and another for the gpu). It has all the usual hardware installed e.g. bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 2X usb 2.0 ports, one SDXC compatible memory card, Megsave port, Firewire 800, headphone jack which is compatible with Iphone's microphone and a Thunderbolt port.

Don't get borg down with the 'Thunderbolt' port. Until now, you have limited use of it apart from connecting it to an Apple Display and Pegasus NAS which will harnest the power of the port (data access speed for up to 10Gbps).

Besides that, there is a new Facetime 1.3MP digital webcam at the front which replaces the iSight on previous Macbook Pro models. The webcam is capable of recording 720p High Definition videos. The unit has a set of stereo speakers mounted on each side of the keyboard and a subwoofer. The keyboard itself is backlit so you can use it under low lit. Above all, it comes with a Superdrive DVD-RW on the right hand side of the machine and a battery indicator on the left hand side and a Kensington lock just beside the Superdrive. The battery which came with it is capable of running seven hours with a single charge. I will have to take it for a spin to verify the claim.

The machine came with 4GB DDR3 SODIMM and a 500GB 5400rpm SATAII Seagate hard drive. I will be giving a review as to the performance after an upgrade to 8GB and 1TB if hard drive space, I have also upgraded the OS from Snow Leopard to Lion. For this moment, I am going to start the review.

When I have received the brown box from UPS, my thoughts were to get the Macbook Pro out of the box as quickly as I can! Well, once I've removed the brown box, I could see the Macbook Pro sitting on four hard cardboard corners. The Macbook Pro had a plastic cover surrounding it. I guess that is what you pay is what you get (expensive stuff will have a better treatment). Using a knife to open the seal, you will see that the Macbook Pro is covered with another layer of plastic. You will have to break the seal on the plastic to get through to the Macbook Pro itself.

Before I switched on the laptop, I did have a go with the battery indicator on the left hand side. It showed five dotes!I do not need to do any charging for the next few hours or so. Anyway, Let me start off with the hands on experience of the Macbook Pro 15.

Pros/Cons
I do like the design of the Macbook Pro 15. I had a great time with the machine. The glossy screen is just perfect for me as I rarely sit under the sun to do my work. Usually it would be in a coffee shop and I rarely get reflections when I am in a building unless my back is facing the light. I had the greatest joy of using Facetime and the 3x3 wireless! It's super quick! I have no problems in receiving signals even though it is weak. I think that is expected of an expensive laptop, isn't it? 

The 1.3MP webcam is sharp but not as good as the webcam on my previous Dell XPS 17 (L702X). The Dell's 2MP HD webcam is somehow superior to Apple's 1.3MP webcam. However, it is a good upgrade to the previous iSight camera on previous generations of Macbook/Pros. I would not recommend people to use the build in webcam on the Macbook Pro to take pictures. It is best to use a digital camera instead.

Apart from the HD webcam, I had the opportunity to use the existing bluetooth and the in-build two usb 2.0 ports. The bluetooth is great as I do not need to use a wired mouse anymore! The range of the bluetooth is around 9m and I think that is sufficient given today's technology! I have managed to use the Firewire 800 port too. I think it is good for Apple to include the Firewire 800 port as camcorders will not work without it.

I am totally disappointed with the way how Apple positioned their USB ports. All ports are stationed to the left hand side of the machine as you would only have a SuperDrive and a Kensington lock on the right. With the usb ports stationed all to the left, it will hinder right handed people from using the mouse as some mouse cords are short!  

I do like the backlit keyboard on the Macbook Pro. I have to congratulate Apple for including an Ambient Lighting sensor which is working both for the screen and for the backlit keyboard. That is genius! The chicklet keyboard is quite standard these days and it has a wide spacing between them. It is good for some people but it is not for me. I guess that I would have to familiarised with the new style keyboard then. As I've come from a PC to a Mac, it is rather difficult for me to get used to the wide spacing of the chicklet keyboard. It will be better for Apple to close the gap so that some people like me would not need to fix some typo errors all the time! I am also thinking about recommending a number keypad on both the 15" and 17" Macbook Pro. It will be so convenient for people to type numbers! However, as the Macbook Pros are using the unibody chassis, it will be little which Apple can do about it.

The Macbook Pro 15 came with a standard 8X SuperDrive. It will play and record dual layer DVDs and also CDs. It is not noisy during operation and certainly the whole chassis does not shake when accessing the contents of the DVDs. This is so unlike previous Dell laptops which I had. I would feel that the whole machine is shaking violently! It goes the same to Sony and HP machines. Well, kudos to Apple this time. However, it will be best if Apple were to include an option to install a Blu-Ray on their machines. I do not understand why Apple would shy away from providing such an option to their customers.

I would like to recommend MegSave charger style for all laptop users irrespective of whether it is a PC or a Mac. I do feel that such an ingenious idea should be used by all manufacturers. The MegSave charger will save consumer money as it will not break if anyone were to pull the laptop away accidentally when the power cord is still stuck onto the power supply. I am just wondering how long would the magnet last on the MegSave charger.

There is a Thunderbolt port which will allow users to daisy chain it up to six equipments (if it is relevant). I did use the port to link with up an external monitor. I find it quite useful. However, Thunderbolt equipments are rare so it will be some time before it will be widely used.

Last but not least, I need to comment about the fan vents. There are no fan vents at the bottom as traditional Macbook/Macbook Pros will see that the fan vents are always in the middle of the chassis. While running some graphics intensive softwares e.g. Photoshop, I can feel that the fan started to spin and the noise would get louder and louder until it sounds like a jet engine. Bear in mind that I have allowed dynamic switching of graphics card on the Macbook Pro. The sound would get softer when I am only using the Integrated Graphics Unit of the Core i7-2635QM.

I am quite disappointed with the noise coming from the vents. I was wishing that Apple would have redesigned the fan to support the latest Sandy Bridge processors from Intel. In fact, they have used the same type of fan on their previous 2010 model of Macbook Pros! I do find that the previous model of Macbook Pros are quieter with the Nvidia graphics. I still feel that Nvidia is a better choice for graphics and not AMD (used to be called ATI).

Battery life is quite good, actually. The battery would last me for around three hours when I am running both Mac OS X Lion and Windows 7. Obviously, if I were to run solely on the Mac OS, it will last for around 7 hours and 30 minutes (brightness set to medium with wireless and bluetooth switched on). That is 30 minutes more than the specification given by Apple. Bear in mind that I have upgraded the machine to a 1TB hard drive and 8GB memory from Crucial.

On the whole, I am pretty happy with the Macbook Pro though. The chassis is superb and it weights slightly more than I have expected. I think it is just my imagination as 2.5kg is just nice to travel around with it. I could have ordered the Matte screen and it would have bring down the weight to 2.4kg.

I do find that the Mac OS X is stable and superb! I have no questions about it. Everything is perfectly build including the 2.1 channel speakers! It has a subwoofer and I would have to say that the sound quality is good but could have been better. It is not as good as the sound system of the Dell XPS range (with MaxxRange and JBL subwoofer).

Last but not least...
I do feel that using a Mac has the best of both worlds - You can run a Mac OS and Windows on it via VM or BootCamp. Personally I would use Parallels Desktop and not using Boot Camp as I would not be able to access to Mac OS if I am running Boot Camp.

Netbooks - Do you really need it?

2007 was the year where people started looking at Asus's Eee PC 701. It is cheap and affordable but it only comes with a screen size of 7". It runs on a strip down version of a full Linux distribution and it has only 1GB of memory. Back then, the keyboard on the Eee PC 701 was small and with a tiny track pad. However, it comes with bluetooth, 3x USB ports, a digital camera and also a 8GB SSD hard drive.

The problem with the Eee PC 701 is that one can't store much information in it. There has to be something to be done on the improvement of the so called 'netbooks'. Then comes the 900, 901 and the 1000 series of the Asus Eee PC. Companies like HP, Sony and Dell quickly picked up the potential of the netbook saga to make more money and came up with their ingenius products. From Dell, they have launched the Mini 9, followed by the Mini 10, then Mini 10v and the mighty Mini 12. Samsung also launched their own version of the netbooks with the Samsung NC10, NC110, NC120, NC310 and the NC20. HP also released their mininote netbook range but it was not really that popular. Sony just released their P series VAIO netbook with features a 8.9" screen.

For a typical netbook, you will find an Intel Atom N270 or the N280 CPU coupled with 1GB of memory and 160GB hard drive and comes completely with 3x USB, bluetooth and a digital camera. It will be lightweight so that it will be easier for buyers to carry it around. Screen size will be around 10" except for the Mini 12 (12.1") and the NC20 (12.1"). Recently, Acer came out with their own larger than 10" netbook called Acer 751h (11.6"). It uses an MID CPU ( Intel Atom Z520) with similar specifications of a typical netbook. Unfortunately, the said netbook was not well response from the public so Acer has to reduce its price. From what I have researched, the Acer 751h is rather slow as compared to a typical netbook which runs on the N270 or the N280 CPU. Intel Atom N series CPUs are single core with hyperthreading, similar to the Z series CPUS. It is different from VIA's U2250 Nano CPU which is only a single core CPU without hyperthreading.

However, there are many advantages of the VIA's Nano CPU. It features support of a 64bit OS and it has NX extension which you will not find it on a typical Intel Atom CPU. Having said that, the VIA Nano is slightly slower than a typical Atom during multitasking as it does not support hyperthreading. The winner of the netbook CPU war will be within Intel's grasp with their release of a second generation of Atom CPU which features a dual core CPU. At that time, not even the mighty AMD Neo can take the crown from Intel.

AMD has released their AMD Neo to compete with Intel's Atom. The specifications of the AMD Neo is similar to VIA's Nano but it is more power hungry. One good thing is that users will be able to benefit from using AMD chipset as it comes with their ATI HD graphics card. Not to worry though as Nvidia's Ion platform will also be featuring an Intel Atom CPU with their own Gforce 9400M graphics card. Certainly, the graphics boost from using an Integrated Intel GMA 500 will be significant. I just could not wait until the Nvidia Ion platform is released. A more recent addition to the netbook family will be the HP's DV2. It comes with a single core AMD Neo CPU with 512KB of L2 cache. It runs much faster as compared to the VIA's Nano U2250 but lose out to the Intel Atom N280 when it comes with the Nvidia 9400M graphics card. The HP DV2 is also very expensive so stick with the Samsung NC10 if you want a 10" netbook and the Samsung NC20 if you are looking for a 12.1" netbook.

Let's talk about the advantages of using a netbook. We know that a netbook is convenient as it is lightweight. However, users should not expect a netbook to perform on par with a typical laptop because a typical laptop will have double the L1 cache and L2 cache and running on dual core instead of hyperthreading (in the case of the Intel Atom). A typical Intel Atom N270 will see that they have 32KB of L1 cache and 512KB of L2 cache. It is being manufactured on a 45nm wafer and running on a maximum speed of 1.6Ghz. Power consumption for the Intel N270 is at 4W. Compare this to an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (3MB L2 cache, 1066mhz FSB, 25W (power consumption) and runs at 2.6Ghz).

One can't compare performance of a netbook to a typical laptop because the netbook is only used for simple execution of programmes while a typical laptop can handle multitasking way much better than a netbook with their enlarged L2 cache and also their speed. Don't ever expect peformance of a netbook to be on par with a laptop. It does not work that way. If you multitask a lot, forget about the netbook. Get yourself a laptop with dual core and more L2 cache. With Intel delaying the launch of their latest dualcore Atom for netbook to 2010, I think we should just adopt the wait and see for now. Forget about netbook.

Dualcore Intel Atom (update)

With reference to my earlier post, I can safely say that the upgraded Intel Atom is arriving to our doorstep. That is why I am thinking whether I should be buying a netbook now or just wait until October 2009 before it is being launched by Intel. According to an Italian website, the new Intel Atom Z630 which features a proper dualcore Atom instead of hyperthreading on the present line of Intel Atom, will be made available to the new range of Sony Vaio P2s. I just could not wait for the great news to appear!!!

No doubts that people would be thinking of buying a netbook but the question is: when? Should they be buying it right now or should they wait for the dualcore Intel Atom to appear around October 2009? Well, it is around four months to go though but I am sure that if people are looking forward to the new cpu, I am sure that it will be worth the wait. It is just like those people who queued for the new Iphone 3GS in Manhattan. I feel that whilst the new Iphone 3GS did not strike me as a new toy, nevertheless, I do feel that I will have to wait for the new Atom dualcore to arrive before making my move. I would really hope that my 9 year old laptop will be able to survive until then.

I can't really talk much about the AMD based Intel Atom killer - Neo. This is because there are not many OEM using the cpu except for HP's DV2 range of laptops. You need to understand that the AMD Neo is not a multithread cpu so it is basically a single core without any hyperthreading. It runs slower than Intel's Atom N series cpu. It goes the same to VIA's Nano CPU. It is also a single core cpu. I feel that it will be much better for me to stick to my Pentium 4-M 2.2Ghz laptop until I can find a proper dualcore Atom cpu laptop... Well, not too long to look for, isn't it? I would just have to wait for another four to five months.

I feel that the netbook market is coming up with better cpus and graphics card. We will be seeing Lenovo's Ideapad S12 which would allow customers to choose either to buy the 12.1" netbook based on the Nvidia 9400M graphics or the Intel Integrated graphics. I would advise people to choose the former as the price difference between the two are insignificant when you are dealing with the performance. It is projected that the S12 with the Nvidia Ion platform will cost US$499 while the S12 with Intel's integrated graphics will cost US$449. Well? If you are looking for Lenovo's S12 with Nvidia's Ion platform, just be patient and wait for mid-August 2009.

Consumers have lots to choose from so choose wisely...

Update: 20/07/2009 - With the robust forecast of the netbook, Intel has decided to delay the launch of the dualcore 'Pinetrail' to 2010. How convenient! I think they should continue to improve on the netbook's specification and not delay it, don't you think so?

Dual core Atoms

I was so tempted to get my hands on one of the more famous netbooks which is widely aceepted as the best netbook around- the Samsung NC20. However, after doing a research, I found out that Nvidia is going to release their upcoming Nvidia Ion platform which basically add an Nvidia graphics to the much needed Atom CPU.

The problem with many netbooks is the the graphics is not one of the best ones as manufacturers are trying to sell more units rather than to provide a better value of servce to customers. Eventually customers realized that pairing the Ato. With Intel's GMA graphic card is not going to improve any performance of the netbook. That is where Nvidia is stepping in. Those guys at Nvidia is going to install an Nvidia Gforce 9400M on any netbook which pairs it with an Intel Atom CPU.

I del that it will be a good idea because it will improve on a netbook's overall performance although the Cpu supports hyperthreading. Wait, we are expecting an upgrade to the much needed N280 CPU or the N330 dual core CPU. Lady luck is on our side as Intel is going to release More dual core Atoms based on their Pineville chipset and it will be a first dual core CPU for netbooks as the current N330 dual core is just for desktop mobo.

I think I am going to wait for the release of the Pineville dual core CPU paired with an Nvidia GPU. Stay tuned. For those people who can't wait until the new arrival of the new CPU from Intel, they may want to check out on Samsung's NC10 for their 10.1" offering and NC20 for their 12.1" offering. Don't get the Acer Aspire 751 or the Dell Mini 12 as they are under performing 12.1" netbooks. The Lenovo's Ideapad S12 will be a good choice by it is not available until next month.

Stay tuned for more updates...

AMD 16 cores?

It was reported by Tomshardware that AMD will be releasing their 16 cores CPU for the server market, mainly the 6000 series cpu in 2011. If that is true, AMD will be able to remove the cpu crown from Intel and take it for themselves! Well, it is just too hard to be true.

Right now, the currect AMD 940 BE is not that impressive as compared to the Core i7 920 anyway. Well, I really hope that AMD will be able to steal away the crown from Intel for one single moment. That will be pretty good, don't you think so?

Intel 6 cores 'Gulftown'

Just imagine having 6 physical cores in a CPU at 32nm. What do you get? Lots of transistors, right? Yes, Intel is coming up with their 6 cores (12 threads) 32nm CPU late this year on socket LGA 1366. What does it mean then? More power and more money to be spent? Absolutely true.

The fact is that Gulftown cpu is actually a Core i7 based CPU but it is running on 32nm instead of the 45nm as we know. Presently, we have the i7 940 and 965. Later this year, we will have 6 cores running at HT! Bear in mind that at 32nm, the transistors are really really tiny. The question is whether it is worth the money in getting such a high end CPU for yourself? You do get 12MB of L3 cache though with the new cpu.

I think at this moment, a normal person might not want to upgrade their cpu if they are still running on the Intel Q6600 because there is still much life coming out from the good old 65nm CPU. It is actually my favourite CPU and it is still my favourite CPU. Look at the price of the Q6600. It is still selling at £150+. That is pretty decent. You have to understand that with the Q6600, you get 8MB of L2 cache at a clock speed of 2.4Ghz. Not too bad, isn't it? If you want, you can get the Q9550 instead which will give you 12MB of L2 cache. I don't really recommend people to get the Core i7 upgrade if they are using an existing quadcore cpu. It is just a waste of money.

I have bechmark one of my friend's pc using pcpitstop. His rig is powered by an AMD 940 BE cpu on a MSI Platinum mobo. It come with an onboard ATI HD 3330 graphics card. Well, running his rig through pcpitstop came out a decent result = 5530. His rig's specification is as follows: 2GB of DDR2 Kingston memory and 500GB HDD. My rig came out at 8830 through pc pitstop. Why? First of all, it is powered by an Intel Q6600 with 8GB quad channel GEIL DDR2 memory; Nvidia 9800GTX+ graphics card and a 500GB HDD. It makes a lot of difference when you have more memory and a decent graphics card. No doubt that my rig will consume more power than his but I do get better performance compared to his. That is the difference.

Now, coming back to the question. Do you really need the Gulftown based CPU? Stick to the i7 940 if you really need to upgrade. Good luck...

More Memory, Please!!!

I am just thinking...Do you need more than 2GB of memory in your laptop/desktop? Well, I have to say that if you only have 1GB in your system (excluding Netbooks because most of them can only manager 1GB due to restrictions of vendors like Dell), you might want to reconsider adding another slick of 1GB into your desktop/laptop. It is proven that with an additional 1GB which will push your system to 2GB, will speed up your applications.

Well, it is true because with the extra memory, data does not need to wait for the temporary data to be flushed out from the 1GB but instead just store data on the extra 1GB of memory. That will speed up the application(s). That is why it is really important for you to install 2GB of memory on your desktops/laptops.

What if you already have 2GB instead in your system? Do you need more than 2GB of physical memory in your system? I have tried 2GB and then 4GB and then 8GB (quad channel) on my system. Guess what? You can't really see significant difference having installed 4GB or 8GB of memory in your systems. I think installing 4GB of memory will be sufficient unless you are a multi-tasking user like me. If you are, paired the 8GB with a quadcore CPU will really speed up your system.

When you have more than 4GB of memory, it is vital to know that you need 64 bit of OS to be able to recognise the additional memory and use them. Otherwise, it will be such a waste for you install the additional memory. At one time, I had 8GB running on Windows Professional XP 64bit with a decent Nvidia Gforce 9800 GTX+. I ran F.E.A.R. 2 on it and boy, it rocks!!! Just to let you know that with 8GB, you will need a better PSU. I think a 700w PSU will be sufficient. Although I know that my GForce 9800 GTX+ is not the fastest graphics card around town, it can still produce decent frame rates. I could run NFS Undercover in the highest settings and I still manage to get around 40fps. It is brilliant!

Well, 2,4 and 8GB of memory configurations are only useful if you are running on non Intel i7 CPUs. If you are running on the i7 CPU, it is wise that you are using 3,6 or 12GB memory configurations because the CPU is designed to run on triple channel. I have not been able to use any Intel i7 CPU until now. I might build myself an i7 system but I am just waiting for the price to come down. At this moment, I don't think it is justifiable for anyone to get the i7 as it is still very expensive. Moreover, better CPUs are releasing very soon. Well, stick with your current Core 2 Duos and it will be just fine, trust me. It will be much wiser for your pockets but...

Yes, with 8GB of memory is much better than 2GB. I am using a Compaq 2800 series laptop and Compaq said that it can only take 1GB of memory. What I did was to replace the 1.4Ghz p4-M to p4-M 2.2Ghz and upgraded the memory from 1GB to 2GB. It really make a vast difference!!!

AMD Love

I am always an Intel fan. In fact, I have been using Intel for the last twelve years apart from 2003 when I have a change of heart of building an AMD Athlon XP 4000+ running on a socket 939 motherboard. After that, I have been using an Intel build in cpu until now. I have no regrets of using an Intel based cpu because they are reliable (except for the earlier Pentium 4 cpus with Netbust instead of the more modern Core CPUs. Intel learned from their mistakes. When they were busy promoting their Pentium 4 CPUs, I was using an AMD Athlon Duronm, then moved over to an Athlon XP 4000+. I have no regrets in using AMD at that time because the Intel P4 CPUs were running much hotter and using more electricity than the AMD counterpart.

Having said that, this is a moment of reckoning. AMD has just released a six-core Opteron CPU called 'Istanbul'.It is a 45nm CPU, just like the latest Core i7 CPUs from Intel but much cheaper than the latest Xeon CPUs. the Istanbul has 6MB of L3 cache (which is shared among the six-cores) fitted into a Socket-F motherboard. Gosh! It has six-cores! It has beaten Intel to their Dunnington CPUs, don't you think so? I know that Dunnington CPUs have been announced by Intel long time ago but it is not in production yet. It will be a stiff competition as AMD is rolling up their six-cores Istanbul CPU!!! I am delighted about that! each CPU will have its own 512KB of L2 cache with Hypertransport 3.0! Wow! That is a wow factor! I would say that the Istanbul will be a fierce contender of Dunnington!!! Way to go AMD!

Reasonably priced LGA775 cooler

If you think that the new Intel i7 is too expensive for you, I think it is high time for you to stick with the Core 2 Duos. I find that there is much life in the Core 2 duos right now for Intel to stop producing them. Let us face the fact. The i7 is expensive. Whilst AMD's Phenom II is out and officials have cut prices to compete with Intel's i7, we consumers have to buy new components to be able to keep our pc up to date.

A cpu would require a good heatsink/fan to go along with it. Well, you can go for a Tuniq tower which is silent (non fan attached). If you feel that the tower is just way too big for you, you can actually buy an Artic Cooling Freezer xtreme for LGA 775/AMD cpus. I think it will be great. The fan is controlled by PWR and the cost of buying one is not too expensive at around £30 form Yoyotech or ebayer. You can also try buying one from ebay as there are many reputable sellers around. Good luck!

Return of AMD Phenom x4 9850

I was doing some research when I bump into AMD Phenom x4 9850. It is a brand new chip by AMD spotting a TLB erratum free with B3 stepping running at 2.5 Ghz. It is a Black Edition too where by the chip has an unlocked CPU multiplier which helps those people who wants to overclock their cpu.

Referring to the sharkyextreme.com, it was stated that the 2.5 Ghz cpu has potential in coming on par with an Intel Q6600 but still lose out to the Intel counterpart in various tests including power consumption and also cpu temperature. The TDP of the Phenom 9850 BE runs at 125W which is a far cry from the 95W of the Intel Q6600. The Intel Q6600 runs cooler and uses less power even under overclocking situations. Besides that, the AMD Phenom X4 9850 is the Return of AMD to meet Intel in taking the opportunity to overtake Intel in the future.

It is a good sign coming from AMD because we do not want Intel to dominate the CPU entirely. It is really good to see that AMD bounce back with a vengence in hoping that their CPU will gain popularity. The CPU is also comparatively cheaper than Intel so for those budget comsciouse people, the AMD Phenom X4 9850 is for you.

I have spoken earlier about overclocking the Phenom X4 9850. It was stated in the same article that the furthest which the 9850 can go is 3.0ghz with dangerous increase of voltage which is not recommended. I think if people were to increase too much of voltage to the CPU, it will definately fry the CPU. In the end, I think it is best to leave the CPU at 2.6Ghz if you want to overclock. Make sure that you have adequate cooling. I do recommended Artic Cooling fan for a start if you want to overclock the CPU.

Good luck!!!

AMD Phenom with B3 Stepping

If you read articles regarding AMD Phenom lately, you will notice that they are still in trouble, until not too long ago. In fact, they have lost the crown of championship of watts to performance to Intel's Core chips. No offence but that is old technology from the Pentium M with shorter pipelines and increased L2 cache size. However, with the Core having some good reviews from leading websites like Anandtech and Tomshardware, I think it is really hard for AMD to strike back.

Look at Intel, they do have Core, then Core2 Duo and now quad core. Can AMD fight back?

Initially, Intel released thir quad core chip which is actually based on two combined Core 2 chips. That would make quad core and it is selling like hot cakes now (especially the Q6600 which is selling for around £150 - Bear in mind that the Q6600 is using the good old 60nm with 8MB L2 cache compared to the Q6700 which is manufactured using 45nm wafer and it comes with 12MB of L2 cache).

What about AMD then? Initially they came out with AMD Phenom which is true quad core (not a combination of two duo cores) and later with AMD Phenom Tri Core. Overall, they only have four Quad cores Phenom at the moment (Phenom 9500, 9600, 9600 Black Edition and now, the 9000). Phenom 9500 was rleased on 19 November 2007 and it was seen as a comback kid for AMD to overthrow Intel. However, reviews have mentioned that the 9500 is not easily available and it is only running at a stock speed of 2.3 Ghz. It has four independent 512kb of L2 cache and a 2MB of L3 cache. Impressive? It is good as the hypertransport is updated to 3.0 to accomodate more data flow but it has only 2MB of total L2 cache and only 2MB of L3 cache. Well, it is still better than Intel because their quad core does not have L3 cache!

Oh well, the AMD Phenom 9500 was relatively cheaper than Intel's Q6600 but the performance is not so good. It falls behind Intel's Quad core chips badly. Then they came out with the 9600 which is only 100mhz more than the 9500 at 2.3Ghz and finally the 9600 Black Edition. The Black Edition of the 9600 has an unlocked multiplier but as Tomshardware gathered, you can't really go far with it because you can only touch around 2.9Ghz with air cooling. All three chips have a well known TLB bug in them because all these were based on a B2 design which might cause software problems and it will eventually cause the pc to hang and so on. Bear in mind that with BIOS enhancement to correct the TLB bug was alright but it will sacrifice speed.

Now comes the best part. AMD have released the new Phenom 9000 (on 65nm wafer, 2.4Ghz, 2MB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache) with B3 stepping which is supposed to be clear of the TLB bug which will cause a problem in the L3 cache. The new chip is stable and does not have any problem as reported after extensive reseach. Oh well, I think AMD have done it again! Perhaps AMD can now produce a better quad core than Intel. I think AMD can be much better if they release their product much faster. Good work to them and keep it up!!!

Intel Quad Core vs AMD Quad Core

As you all have known, both Intel and AMD have rolled out their Quad core CPU. Isn't it amazing that you can actually stick two dual core CPU into one casing? That is really amazing. However, it is quite clear that there are differences between Intel and AMD's quad core.

First of all, Intel quad cores at the moment are not traditional quad cores. Intel have stuck two dual cores into one casing. That is how you get quad cores. The bus is controlled by the FSB of either 1066 mhz or 1333 mhz sharing 8MB of L2 cache or 12MB of L2 cache (on later 45nm CPU). It is really amazing to see that you can actually stick 12MB of L2 cache onto one CPU! That is pretty much.

If I am not mistaken, the last time we saw a massive L2 cache was on the Itanium and the Itanium 2 CPU for servers. Unfortunately, the CPU is pretty unpopular and the cost of buying one is expensive so the demand was relatively low. I am really happy to see that the 45nm quad core from Intel is now available (Q9550 which sports a 12MB L2 cache and the clock speed is 2.8Ghz).It is more efficient that AMD's Phenom true Quad core CPU in terms of power to watt ratio.

I have to say that Intel is doing good with its Quad Core CPU. The performance is excellent and together with at least 4GB of DDR2 memory, it rocks!!! I can see the power in Intel's CPU.

Secondly, we need to discuss about AMD's Phenom processor. No doubt that it is a true quad core where by they have designed the CPU from scratch (Kudos to them), nevertheless, the performance of the Phenom CPU at the moment (Phenom 9660 Black Edition) is not up to par with comparative Intel Quad Core. There is still the problem of TLB ( a bug in the CPU design) and relatively slow compared to Intel Quad Core. AMD have released the Phenom 9600 Black Edition so that consumers can overclock the CPU itself without the need to adjust the FSB, which is good. However, there is a problem because the maximum clock speed that people can do is 2.7 Ghz (the original CPU clock for the 9600 Black Edition is 2.3 Ghz).

You all can refer to some reviews mentioned by Tomshardware and Sharkyextreme. Both websites have given the green light to say that at the moment, Intel Quad core is way ahead of AMD's Phenom CPU. One positive thing about AMD's Phenom CPU is that the price is relatively cheaper than Intel's Quad Core CPU. You decide then....