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from the like-having-a-server-in-your-pocket dept.
Late last week Intel announced its first workstation-grade Xeon CPUs for laptops. The exact details aren't available, nor is a release date, although the details it did release are intriguing.
Xeons have been available for high-end desktops doing work like CAD and other graphic design because they have features a business power user would want, like error correcting code (ECC) memory and the vPro business management features.
The laptop processor, the Xeon E3-1500M v5, is meant for that same market of power users who are on the go or move between locations and need mobility. And while the new Skylake processor will have some advanced features like ECC, there are some other goodies.
The Xeon E3-1500M v5 will include Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-C ports, which support 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer speeds. It will also have its own optimized graphics, although Intel did not go into details. The Xeon has never been known as a graphics champ since it runs on servers, but the upcoming Skylake line is said to have very good graphics, so we may see a desktop Xeon with Skylake-level graphics.
(Score: 4, Touché) by schad on Thursday August 13 2015, @01:00PM
Servers, desktops, laptops, and phones all have radically different "thermal profiles" (ability to dissipate heat). You put a server CPU in a phone and it won't work. It'll spend all its time in thermal shutdown. You can make a laptop that can handle a desktop CPU -- there are companies that do it -- but it's not really a normal laptop. It's more like a man-portable all-in-one. Even those usually only run at full (desktop-equivalent) speed in very short bursts. There's a market for these so-called "desktop replacements," but it's not a terribly big one.
There are definitely stupid artificial restrictions -- socket count, virtualization features, etc. -- but none of the stuff you mentioned qualifies.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Hyperturtle on Thursday August 13 2015, @01:29PM
I think this is just marketing to help cover or repair damage to their brand.
Consider that the newest laptops have that nice new energy saving "Core M" CPUs. They are, by most measures, not worth buying.
They peak at a high speed and heat up rapidly, causing the device to throttle the processor quite dramatically. Brand new devices with a faster Core M processor than the models they replaced -- often perform more slowly than their predecessors.
People also have noted that the devices will heat up more, because vendors took advantage of the energy saving/thermal reduction features of the chip. This causes the performance to drop even further, because many brand name laptops have opted to skimp or eliminate the active fan based cooling because "Core M" processors are marketing as being faster, better, and not requiring battery draining and space consuming fans.
There has been a good deal of negative reviews. For light use -- they are fine. Just like any cheap processor. The only constant in change when it comes to email, web use, and casual gaming... is the CPU power needed to run a modern website. Javascript can turn these things into a hot mess, and the CPU has been designed to extend battery life and give a boost when launching applications--not for long-term use.
Putting a Xeon into a laptop appears to be a response to correct that wrong. While I can't claim to know how these will work... traditional Xeons are not intended for a lower power use case, or a thermal environment without active or some kind of cooling that takes into effect great temperature peaks than many consumer devices experience normally.
I would have to guess these may be similar to Core Ms that don't throttle as badly due to differing requirements for their inclusion in a laptop. Sort of like putting a start button back into the OS and getting rave reviews because the focus is on that one thing, these processors are not likely server grade, and simply may be banking on the fact that they don't act like an ultrabook processor, if they are required to have a more proactive cooling solution.
Considering these are still going to be "Skylakes", I imagine they may be better performing Core Ms with a more aggressive cooling requirement.
In any event, even if my technical description is wrong (I did a quick check and see nothing to refute it...) it still feels like a marketing move to restore faith and repair branding damage, as opposed to any real progress. Putting active cooling on something that needed it to begin with...
Never buy a CPU based on temporary peak turbo speed...
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday August 13 2015, @03:38PM
I agree that the M line is mostly a burst mode processor. But it is probably well targeted to the market segment that uses it for watching cat videos on YouTube.
The problem with laptops is that nobody wants to design a laptop with enough passive-radiator cooling into the cases. That forces them to put in big fans, but those require air flow paths which are also difficult to provide in laptop cases. The mindless pursuit of thin laptops exacerbates the issue. In addition to no cooling there is no room for batteries.
So they end up stuffing low-power chips into cases with inadequate cooling, and you are hard pressed to find laptops capable of even half of the performance of a desktop.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2015, @05:01AM
don't forget stupid ass people who want ooo thinner! lighter! laptops. all of them. theyre reaping what theyve sown. in some ways, fuck Jony Ive too, for pushing this vanity button so well.
remember Pentium 4 and RAMBUS? was nice laughing as my dual 800Mhz P3 was more performant than that bad turn. glad some infidels managed to get Intel to kill it, with their P3-based Core processors.