Following from their very successful line-up of the Core processor series, Intel have released the Core 2 series. The Core series, particularly the dual-core Core Duo configuration were very popular in laptop computers, including Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops.
The Core 2 line will continue to focus on the mobile computing market but will also aim for more high-perfomance desktop machines. One of the benefits of the Core and Core 2 ranges has been high energy efficiency, and it seems Intel are banking on this once again to get the more heavy-duty Core 2 chips into more laptops, where power consumption is a very important issue.
Where Intel have recently missed out on sales to AMD has been this extremely high-performance desktop market. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 range has almost dominated this type of ‘gaming machine’ for some time, and with the release of the Core 2 aimed at this type of machine as well, it’s obvious Intel wants to regain ground, while still dominating in the mobile space (with the Centrino brand). They are also branching into the new media PC market with the Viiv (pronounced like ‘five’) brand, of which new Viiv machines will be running Core 2 processors. It makes sense, as power consumption for media PCs is also important (to keep cooling requirements down).
[...] AppleInsider are reporting that they have heard rumours that Apple will be one of the first companies to do a major rollout of Intel’s new Core 2 processor series. There’s no details of what Mac models will be using the Core 2 chips, but there is speculation that a new revision of the MacBook Pro will surface, sporting the new Core 2 Duo configuration. [...]
[...] Intel seem to be pushing out new processors and new architectures all the time nowadays. Only a short while after the release of their Core Duo (and Core Solo) range, they recently released the Core 2 Duo processors aimed at desktops. [...]