It seems that Intel has found a way around the major complaint about multi-core CPUs, which is that they run single-threaded applications slower than single-core CPUs: they’ve come up with a technology to shut down unused cores to boost the speed on the remaining active cores.
It’s not a perfect solution, but it’ll probably help us get over the single- to multi-threaded hump.
Those i7s are nice, maybe some day, though by then there probably will be an even nicer chip from Intel, I’ll make a custom-built system that’s an i7. (Able to run any operating system, of course!)
If the industry ever seriously adopts a modular notebook design, as they’ve been kicking around for decades now, I’m sure I’ll do the same. But they’ll fight it tooth and nail, because notebooks are one of the few areas they can still get a premium.
Of course, I’m not sure how much Snow Leopard is going to need to take advantage of this technology. It’s pretty smart about multicore processors, and as SL-specific programs are written, will only get smarter. 🙂
The i7 stuff speeds up one or two cores by shutting down the others, making the chip generate less heat so that the remaining cores can be sped up without making it too hot. That’s not something that software alone can duplicate, no matter how smart it is.
Your comment is correct to a point, in that programs written for Snow Leopard are multithreaded and can keep more than one core busy. But single-threaded programs are likely to remain the most common type for quite a while, even on Snow Leopard and its offspring.