About this time last year, Intel offered us a complete processor revamp and architecture update for both the desktop and mobile markets. Intel called it their evolutionary "tick" step in their manufacturing process migration from 45 to 32nm. The "tock," as it were, follows along in cadence offering refinement and feature enhancement that completes the product evolution. So here we are, about 12 months or so later, and the "tock" cometh.

Intel's Core i7-2820QM processor is the vehicle that we'll be using as a means of evaluating Intel's new architecture. It's not the highest-end SKU in the line-up but it has all the bells and whistles enabled and about 90% of top-end clock speed that Intel will offer in their "Extreme" version mobile chip. In a 45 Watt power envelope, this is the Sandy Bridge chip you'll likely see in some of the more capable multimedia targeted notebooks coming to market in 2011. And we'd dare say, at this early juncture, it packs a healthy serving of beef-cake computing muscle for just about anything you could throw at it.



Link: HotHardware