Digital Home Thoughts: Intel Quad-Core CPUs Coming to a Laptop Near You

"Intel says it will ship quad-core chips designed specifically for laptops later this year. The quad-core chips, most likely for desktop replacement laptops, will be based on the Core 2 Duo microarchitecture and will ship in the third quarter, Intel officials said. Intel declined comment on chip details, though enthusiast Web sites reported the chip is Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX9300. The chips will be manufactured using the new 45-nanometer process. The chip will be released after Intel's Centrino 2 platform, code-named Montevina, is launched in the second quarter. Montevina is an upgrade to the current Centrino mobile platform that puts WiMax and Wi-Fi networking capabilities on a single chip. Montevina will include processors based on the Core 2 microarchitecture and the quad-core notebook processor could be included in the platform."

Quad-core CPUs in a laptop? Hell yeah! It would be great to have that kind of power for media editing - as long as the software you're using takes full advantage of all four cores. It's great to see Intel pushing forward with their Quad Core CPUs - it amazes me that you can get an Intel Core 2 Quad for under $250.