Enter Digital World Area

On Sunday, Intel launched the Q9000, a quad-core mobile chip that partner Acer included in a new notebook the company launched on Monday. Intel also added four new mobile dual-core chips to its portfolio, via updates to its official price list: the Core 2 Duo T9800, P9600, T9550, and P8700.

What's notable about the Q9000 is its price: $348 in 1,000-unit lots. Intel's other mobile quad-core chips all cost $851, with its top-of-the-line QX9300 chip priced at $1,038. In part, that has allowed Acer to market its new Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook at a suggested price of $1,799.99.

The 8930G-7665 allegedly contains the Q9000, although the specs Acer originally listed for the device actually correspond to the QX9300: 2.53 GHz, 12 Mbytes of level 2 cache, and a 1.066-GHz front-side bus. The Q9000 runs at 2.0-GHz, uses a shared 6 Mbyte level-2 cache, and includes a 1.066 GHz front-side bus.

An Acer representative said Monday that the original specifications were a mistake, and that the 8930G-7665 includes the Q9000, with the specifications as listed above.

Otherwise, Acer's new notebook includes an 18.4-inch WUXGA Acer CrystalBrite screen (at 1920 x 1080 resolution), 4 Gbytes of DDR3 memory, a GeForce 9700M GT/512 Mbytes graphics card, a 500-GByte hard drive, 802.11a/b/g, a 6-in-1 card reader, a Webcam, Dolby HomeTheater-class sound, and Windows Vista Premium 64-bit. The new notebook is available now.

Intel also introduced the mobile Core 2 Duo T9800 (2.93 GHz, 6 Mbytes L2 cache, $530), the P9600 (2.66 GHz, 6 Mbytes L2 cache, $348), the T9550 (2.66 GHz, 6 Mbytes L2 cache, $316) and the P8700 (2.53-GHz, 6 Mbytes L2 cache, $241). The "T" and "P" series differ in the thermal design power used; the "T" series processors are rated at 35 watts, while the "P" series is rated at 25 watts.

By the time you read this, PC systems with Intel's new Core i7 quad-core processor with hyperthreading should be on store shelves, or at least on the ordering page of your favorite online system manufacturer.

The new Core i7 "Nehalem" processor will formally launch at an event Monday night in San Francisco. Many of the details surrounding the new chip have already been released, including a rundown of the new Core i7s and their prices.

The Nehalem/Core i7 architecture has been extensively benchmarked. The complementary X58 chipset which will be used in motherboards tied to the Core i7, has also been reviewed.

The Core i7 improves multi-threaded performance in multimedia apps and games over the previous generation Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme processors. Core i7 requires the new X58 chipset (and consequently new motherboards), since the memory controller is now built in to the CPU.

Systems from high end and mainstream PC builders will be available, including Alienware, Dell, Falcon Northwest, Gateway, iBuyPower, Overdrive PC, Polywell, PowerSpec, and Velocity Micro. Predictably, many of the first few models will be gaming rigs with the 965 Extreme Edition version of the Core i7, but the other two CPU models (920 and 940) will appear in mid-priced and high-end multimedia desktops as well.

For more on the Core i7 processors, particularly the Extreme Edition, please read the review of the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7) on PC Magazine.