The i5 and i7 processors feature Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which regulates the PC's power consumption - giving a computer an extra boost of power when needed for resource intensive tasks or scaling back on consumption when less power is required. Intel demonstrated their Turbo Boost Technology with Cinebench rendering benchmark, where the Intel processor showed a marked spike in activity when rendering, while falling back into a more power friendly mode once done. Commenting on this new Turbo Boost function, Videsha Proothveerajh, country manager of Intel South Africa said: “They [the processors] become energy efficient to the point of shutting down processing cores or reducing power consumption to provide performance when people need it, and energy efficient when they don’t."

 

Multi-tasking
 

Another key strength of the processors is the improved multi-tasking capabilities, with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology allowing each processing core to run multiple “threads”. For the consumer this means the ability to run system intensive programs, while at the same time being able to do even more, for example run a virus check in the background.

 

Playing games on notebooks is usually a disastrous affair, but but there is hope thanks to full HD graphics integrated in the Core i range. This might not satisfy hard core gamers but it's a solution for casual gamers, since it promises 40% better 3D performance and a 58% better frame rate than previous processors. Of course it also helps in today’s world of full HD video, while the new range is the first integrated solution to deliver multi-channel Dolby TrueHD and DTS Premium Suite home theater audio.

 

To stress the importance of the new processors for Intel, Proothveerajh concluded stating that, “The Core family of processors is the biggest invention since the Pentium.” High praise indeed.