Archive for April 6th, 2009
Windows 7 reaches build 7105 milestone
Posted by The Right Guy in Software, Windows, Windows 7 on April 6th, 2009
Possible RC-Escrow release
According to a new blog from Russian website Wzor, Microsoft’s Windows 7 team has reached a new development milestone and the latest Windows 7 build has jumped to 7105.
The new build was compiled on April 4th with the string 6.1.7105.0.winmain.090404-1235. Overall, the change log lists improved networking support, added support for some previously incompatible programs, added support for new drivers for various devices, extended support for sensory based displays, extras in the LP, small interface improvements, and small optimizations and changes in the kernel.
As it stands, Microsoft plans to release the Windows 7 RC-Escrow build sometime this month, so it is possible that there may be a leak within this week. On the other hand, the official public Release Candidate build is scheduled for May next month, while the Release to Manufacturing is scheduled for September in five months.
Just recently, Microsoft told its partners that Windows 7 RTM was delayed to September because developers and partners are currently unsatisfied with the builds. No specific reasons were mentioned other than the fact that there were still a few bugs. Nevertheless, if Microsoft’s schedule does not change, Windows 7 should officially be released in November and we hope no later than January 2010.
Lynnfield to boost Intel quad core share
Posted by The Right Guy in Hardware on April 6th, 2009
Quads currently account for only 10% of total sales
Intel’s flagship Core 2 Quad 65nm, Core 2 Quad 45nm Yorkfield and Core i7 Bloolfield 45nm quad-core CPUs are currently at some nine percent of total Intel’s OEM guidance for consumer market.
This number should grow to ten percent in Q2 2009 and with introduction of Lynnfield Quad core cheap Nehalem CPUs, Intel should jump to some 12percent of total shipment with quads.
Q4 2009 will slightly change the situation as up to 20 percent of CPUs might be quad-core based but there is a catch with this number. According to Intel 20+ percent of market will be shared by Core i7, Core 2 Quad 45nm and mainstream Nehalem that includes both Lynnfield quad-cores and Clarkdale dual-cores, so the actual 20+ percent number won’t be realistic.
In Q4 2009 we can only suggest that some 15+ percent of Intel’s total shipments will be quad-cores. Just to put things into perspective in the same quarter Pentium dual-core E5000 and E6000 45nm series will hold approximately 32 percent of the total Consumer based shipments
Intel is now after Nvidia’s MCP7
Posted by The Right Guy in Hardware on April 6th, 2009
But admits Nvidia is better for games
Intel has one new presentation where it tries to bash Nvidia chipsets and this time they are after MCP79. Intel’s biggest argument is that the battery life is much better on GM45 Intel chipset based notebook then on Nvidia’s MCP79. There is a big chance that Nvidia’s MCP79 does eat more battery than Intel’s GM45.
Intel also claims it can score 120 on Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) test, out of a possible 130, while MPC79MVL scores some 90+ points and we wonder if Intel is completely honest about this one. We really doubt that Intel’s GM45 is that good with DVD video playback as Intel was always last in these tests where ATI and Nvidia were winning.
Intel at least admits that in 3Dmark 06 and 3Dmark vantage that “Some Nvidia MCP79M SKUs offer 2-3x times better gaming performance as measured by 3Dmark, however volume MCP79MVL SKU is slightly below GM45 in DirectX 9 gaming.” Intel fails to mention that in 3Dmark Vantage the same Nvidia’s SKU scores almost 50 percent better.
It definitely sounds that Intel is concerned and someone finally realized that Intel chipsets are inferior to Nvidia’s and ATI as people nowadays want to play some games on their laptop and for Intel this is something that company doesn’t offer today, in mid 2009.
You can check the whole presentation here.