Merom : Intel provides additional info

Even if Apple wishes to keep the secret surrounding its future x86-based computers, Intel does not really care, and provides additional information related to the Merom, the processor which is supposed to power the fist x86 PowerBook; while its brother Yonah will find its place into x86 iBook.
- The Merom will have a 14 stages pipeline, much shorter than the 31+ of a P4.
- The Merom will be a dual core processor
- even if both core can not communicate via a dedicated bus; it will be compensated by a shared L1 cache and an unified L2 cache of 2 or 4MB. It will allow processors to communicate without going through the motherboard bus, so far the size of the exchanged information does to go beyond the L2 cache size.
- Despite the end of the netburst architecture, the Merom will integrate some of the technologies developed around the P4 such as Hyperthreading.
- One will have to wait till mid-2006 to see the first Merom, whereas the first Yonah should be on the market for Q1 2006.