Centrino Duo Part Deux

One month after Intel Corp. debuted the desktop version of its all-new-architecture Core 2 Duo processor, the chipmaker has launched a mobile version. The dual-core processor formerly known by the codename "Merom" (as the desktop Core 2 Duo was "Conroe") replaces the original Core Duo in notebook PC designs bearing Intel's Centrino Duo label, the marketing tag for laptop platforms that combine Intel CPU, chipset, and wireless networking silicon.

Like their desktop siblings, the mobile Core 2 Duos combine support for Intel's virtualization, IT management, and EM64T technologies with Advanced Smart Cache -- Level 2 cache shared by and dynamically allocated to the twin processor cores -- and Wide Dynamic Execution that lets each core handle as many as four instructions at once. The main difference between the 65-nanometer-process product lines is that the mobile CPUs feature a 667MHz front-side bus and more battery-friendly thermal design power of 34 watts (three more than the Core Duo), versus Conroe's 1066MHz bus and 65 watts.

Mobile Core 2 Duo processors with 2MB of Level 2 cache include the 1.66GHz model T5500 and 1.83GHz model T5600, with 1,000-unit OEM prices of $209 and $241, respectively. Processors with 4MB of L2 cache are the Mobile Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz), T7400 (2.16GHz), and T7600 (2.33GHz), with respective prices of $294, $423, and $637.