Intelon Monday unveiled theIvy Bridgeprocessor kinsfolk , the third generation in the company ’s line of Core C.P.U. .
The set of quad - core processors released Monday are made for desktops , all - in - ones , and high - final stage laptops . Intel has eight Core i7 processor models : two for the desktop , two designated as Desktop Low - Power , and four wandering models . Intel also has five Core i5 C.P.U. models : three for the background , and two fate as Desktop Low - Power . Intel also has a Modern Core i7 Extreme Edition CPU , which is a wandering central processing unit .
The Ivy Bridge processors are the first processor that are create using Intel ’s 22 nanometer ( nm ) process engineering , which means that the processors are small than the previous 32 nm processor , called Sandy Bridge . The humble design will contribute to a swiftness improvement , but it may not be a dramatic one .
According to Intel , the dramatic improvement , as a result of the 22 nm process , will be with king consumption . Ivy Bridge is much more efficient than Sandy Bridge ; at the Intel Developers Forum last September , Intel enounce that Ivy Bridge supports DDR3L , the low potential drop ( 1.35v ) DDR3 standard , as well as configurable TDP ( thermal design power ) , DDR I / type O power gating , and power - aware interrupt conjugation .
Another major change is with the built - in computer graphic - processing building block ( GPU ) . Previous Core processors had progress - in GPUs , so the fact that Ivy Bridge has a GPU is n’t new . But the built - in GPU is n’t usually look at a GPU that ’s ideal for games or diagrammatically demanding employment . Macworld Lab ’s experience is that the Sandy Bridge GPU ( the Intel Graphics 3000 ) is enough to meet the minimal requirements of some game and graphic apps , and not enough for the most demanding of package .
Intel in itsIvy Bridge press releasesays that the Ivy Bridge built - in GPU , the Intel Graphics 4000 , is capable of “ two time better 3 - D graphics performance ” than the Graphics 3000 .
New Macs coming soon?
The dismissal of Ivy Bridge bring Bob Hope to Mac users yearning for Mac hardware news . The ideal candidate for the Ivy Bridge CPU is the iMac ; the current iMac model wasreleased last May — almost a yr ago . Because of the iMac ’s all - in - one design , we could see new iMacs with Ivy Bridge ’s Desktop Low Power processor . It ’s potential that the Core i7 Extreme Edition processor could be featured as a build - to - order ( BTO ) pick for the top - of - the - seam 27 - in iMac .
It ’ll be interesting to see what Apple make up one’s mind to do with the graphic mainframe in the iMac . The current iMac use distinct GPUs , but Old iMac models have used integrated art in the most - affordable 21.5 - inch models — for example , the $ 1199 21.5 - column inch 2009 iMac had an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400 M GPU . If Apple decided to rely on the Ivy Bridge ’s Intel Graphics 4000 for some iMac modelling , it ’s an reading that the company feel that it can bring home the bacon at least the minimal performance require for some games and graphics apps .
The Mac mini , which wasupdated last July , will likely see an upgrade after the release of an Ivy Bridge iMac .
What about new laptop computer ? If the MacBook Pro is considered a high - end laptop , then it ’s easy to conclude that the mobile version of the Ivy Bridge processors released Monday could make their way into the novel MacBook Pro . However , rumor of a 15 - inch MacBook Air and a revamp of Apple ’s laptop lineup persist . If Apple does have plans for such a laptop computer , it may not apply any of the just - exhaust Ivy Bridge processors . Intel plans to release the Ivy Bridge processors for ultrabooks “ later this year , ” according to Intel’sIvy Bridge press waiver , through some reports say asearly as June . The ultraportable model of the Ivy Bridge processor seem like the kind that would be used by the MacBook Air .
And finally , there ’s the poor , neglected Mac Pro . In recent history , the Mac Pro has used Xeon processors , andIntel released new Xeon processors in March . But there are no signs from Apple that new Mac Pros are imminent , even though thereseems to be user need . Macworld Lab found that a 27 - column inch 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac with an SSD isfasterthan a BTO 3.33GHz Xeon Westmere six - core Mac Pro , and if a raw Ivy Bridge iMac is release before a new Mac Pro , the performance gap between the iMac and the Mac Pro will only let out . Perhaps that ’s Apple ’s design all along .
[ Roman Loyola is a Macworld elderly editor . ]
