
Are the new Macbook Pros i5 & i7 vPro's Quad Core? - data6057
I wanted to know if the new Macbook Pro's (April 2010) are quad core or dual core processors? I've poked around on the intel.com site and I can't tell. Thanks!
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pasbesoin
Below are some notes-to-self that I made back in January when I was
researching laptop purchases for friends and family. It includes the best
information I found; unfortunately, the non-HN links in the below are in
German.

Summarizing the linked content: It's been a while, but my impression of the
best choice was the 520M. The 540M gave a bit more performance, but depending
on price bump wouldn't be worth it. The 620M actually degrades when running 3D
rendering on the integrated graphics (maybe not an issue in the new Macbooks
with their dedicated graphics switchover); speculation was that it was hitting
its thermal envelope and stepping down.

Integrated graphics on the 3xx are significantly slower. IG on the 4xx are a
bit slower. However, it's only at the 5xx level that hardware support for 256
bit AES, and a few other things, get turned on.

This is from memory; I may have mis-remembered something.

Also, speculation was that the next revision would be out in summer and that
there was a good deal of room for improvement in efficiency / power reduction.
(I think this last may have been speculated at anandtech.com (or maybe
elsewhere), in an article I don't have linked below.)

\----

1/21/2010 1:14:27 PM

[http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Intel-
Core-i3-i5-i7-Prozes...](http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Intel-
Core-i3-i5-i7-Prozessoren-Arrandale.25078.0.html)

via

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1066938>

1/24/2010 12:54:01 PM

The notebookcheck article cites these further articles:

NBC vor Ort: Intel stellt neues Prozessoren-Line-up vor
[http://www.notebookcheck.com/NBC-vor-Ort-Intel-stellt-
neues-...](http://www.notebookcheck.com/NBC-vor-Ort-Intel-stellt-neues-
Prozessoren-Line-up-vor.24048.0.html)

Test Dell Studio 1558 Notebook [http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-
Studio-1558-Notebook....](http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Dell-
Studio-1558-Notebook.24437.0.html)

------
clusterfu_k
dual core.

the wikipedia article on the i5's show that the mobile i5's are dual core
while the desktop i5's are quad.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_i5>

~~~
clusterfu_k
did some more research.

all the i5/i7 macbooks seem to be running on the Arrandale line, so that would
make them all dual core.

it looks like the top i7 macbook is using the Intel Core i7-620M processor.
the two i5 models are the Intel Core i5-520M (2.4GHz) and the Intel Core
i5-540M (2.53GHz).

~~~
data6057
Any chance the 15" i7 has quad core? I know battery life is precious but I
wish they would put one hardcore laptop out and price it high if needed.

~~~
data6057
I found the answer. Sorry. Dual core on the 15" i7.
<http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43560>

