Anthony On Photography

Upgraded Computer Processors for the Digital Darkroom

July 27, 2006, will be an important day for people engaged in digital photography. That's because Intel will be introducing its latest generation of computer CPUs, the Intel Core Duo 2. The Core Duo 2 is a CPU with two internal processors--all on a one-socket chip. It's like having two computers on 1 chip. It means that a user can do things like burn a DVD while running something else in Photoshop simultaneously--without a speed impact. These chips promise incredible speed at prices which will be within the reach of even a modest digital photographer.

Those who have been following the world of computer processors know that for the last couple of years, Intel has been playing second fiddle to AMD. With its superior dual core FX-60 and FX-62 chips, AMD has made tremendous inroads into Intel's markets.

But now, with the introduction of the Core Duo 2, Intel has leapfrogged AMD. In testing by PC Magazine, modest Core Duo 2 systems perform as well as or better than Intel Extreme Edition Pentium 4's, despite having significantly slower clock speeds. Moreover, the Core Duo uses far less power to accomplish its tasks. This means that the Core Duo is a supremely efficient chip.

For the digital photographer, the dual processor core means that processes like running Photoshop filters can be accomplished in far less time. And programs optimized to work with dual cores will take advantage of the processing power.

More importantly for Intel, the Core Duo 2 puts them on a path to the future. The chip will be 64-bit compatible. Pretty much all of Intel's future chips will use the Core Duo 2 architecture. And there won't be any more Pentium chip!

Shocking though is performance even in modest Core Duo 2 CPU's. Check out this test of a *student* system which sells for $ 899.00 without a monitor: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1988081,00.asp

This system rivals systems costing far, far more--and it's all because the Core Duo 2 CPU truly appears to be a revolution.

So, on July 27th, get in line and check out the latest revolution in computer processors. It can only make your post processing faster!

posted by Anthony @ 3:31 PM