The website PCPro.co.uk claims to have put its hands on a notebook prototype powered by a Core i7 Mobile CPU (4 cores , 8 threads).
Associated with a NVIDIA GeForce GT240M, the notebook offers excellent performance levels in all tests, putting a Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz on its knees, and competing without probelm with a Core 2 Extreme clocked at 2.53 GHz, while this new Core i7 mobile is only clocked at 1.73 GHz...
If one can expect that part of the performance level can be associated with the new architecture, TurboBoost mode is also helping a lot< Indeed, if not all 4 cores are used, then the system will switch off from 1 to 3 cores and overclock the remaining active core by the corresponding clock speed. So, if only one core is used, its frequency jumps to 3.06 GHz, if only 2 are used then the clock speed will be 2.8 GHz. And this is NOT the fastest Core i7 mobile CPU... the high-end model could have a standard clock speed of 3.2 GHz, so it will be overclocked by the system, but will remain in the safe thermal zone defined by Intel.
If Apple decides to offer desktop CPU for the iMac, then it will most likely be the Core i5 as we mentioned it couple of days ago. Otherwise, to maintain the iMac with a mobile computing architecture, Apple could then use the forthcoming Core i7 mobile with 4 cores. It would provide a dramatic gain of performance, and adapting the cooling system will not be an issue.
The only problem will be for marketing, as current iMAc is powered by a 3.06 GHz CPU, so how will Apple explain to users that the new model with the same or lower clock speed can be much more powerful? Yes it has 4 cores, but we all know that not all applications can benefit from 2 or more cores... Of course, we would buy such computer immediately as the TurboBoost will bring a real improvement on everyday performance, built for existing applications, and ready for forthcoming ones able to take the best from the existing/available cores.
