Acer unhappy with Intel CULV processor performance
November 3, 2009 at 6:03 pm
It seems that Acer is not too happy with the performance of Intel’s CULV processors. The chips, mainly used in ultra-thin mini-notebooks ranging from 11.6-inches onwards, are not living up to the company’s expectations according to an earnings call last week.
Acer Chairman, JT Wang, said that whilst consumers are happy with the long battery life, the performance has been found wanting. To address this, Acer is expected to announce new ultra-thin devices in Q1 2010 that use new CULV (currently unannounced) processors. “This time we should be able to do it right,” Wang said.
Whilst it is vague in what Wang may have been referring to, it could be the new 32nm Westmere (Arrandale ) chips that combine a GPU and CPU into a single package. This design will keep consumption low and also provide a performance boost. The new chips are rumoured to have clock speeds similar to laptop CPUs but should benefit from hyper-threading.
November 5th, 2009 7:07 PM
The problem isn’t the CULV CPU. The problem is that ALL of them in the ultraportable category (11.6 and 12.1) are paired with the craptastic 4500mhd.
Pair it with a real graphics chip, such as Ion or HD3200, and they’ll be worth buying. As it stands, you are no better off with laptops with the CULV than you are with a cheap netbook – neither can do much because of the GPU. The CPU isn’t the problem, and never was the problem.