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    Why is the i7 640UM good?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by SolidMcGee, Jan 7, 2011.

  1. SolidMcGee

    SolidMcGee Notebook Enthusiast

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    I don't know much about processors, but I'm trying to understand how the intel i7 640UM is better than some of his predecessors, because I've seen that he only has two cores, but four threads. I didn't look into much other processors, but it appears to be that it has more threads.
    Anyways I'm a bit confused so if anyone could help me out I'd be very glad
     
    SolidMcGee, Jan 7, 2011
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  2. JKleiss

    JKleiss Notebook Evangelist

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    Have a lookie here at some 1st generation i series mobile cpus

    i series cpus have hyperthreading, so each core can run two threads at the same time, better for multitasking etc
     
    JKleiss, Jan 7, 2011
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  3. SolidMcGee

    SolidMcGee Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ahh that explains a lot. Thank you very much
     
    SolidMcGee, Jan 7, 2011
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  4. City Pig

    City Pig Notebook Virtuoso

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    That "U" means "ultra-low voltage." It's weak, but uses less power than standard CPUs. So, really, it's only "good" if you want to save a small amount of battery life.
     
    City Pig, Jan 7, 2011
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  5. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The core i7 UM series has had a mixed life.

    There are certainly some positives.

    Turbo and hyperthreading helped it beat the old CULV (core 2 ultra low voltage) chips, effectivly giving it a clockspeed and thread advantage, add to that an IPC (instructions per clock) improvement and it could pack a punch. That punch did cost more power however.

    Add to that improvement to mobile CPUs as a whole with similar power saving technology that could throttle themselves down if needed and it took away a good chunk of its advantage along with its higher cost.

    With the massive gains from sandy bridge I predict a quick death for it.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jan 7, 2011
    #5